Red Chakra
by Ichihime
Summary: Bursts of chakra, the Hokage setting ANBU on the case, Naruto not feeling well. What's really going on here? No pairings.
1. Prologue

Red Chakra

Prologue

* * *

_Summary: There have been strange bursts__ of chakra around Konoha the last few nights. The Hokage has issued a mission to find out where it's coming from and she is sending ANBU to look into it. At the same time people are getting worried about Naruto. He hasn't been all that well lately and they don't know what's wrong. How is all this connected?_

_Edit: 20.06.10_

* * *

The guards had been standing there in the rain for a few hours already. Their clothes were dripping of water and occasionally a sneeze could be heard coming from their direction.

This was one of the dreaded nights for the ninjas patrolling or standing on guard in Konohagakure. It was almost impossible not to catch a cold. It was during these nights that they dreamt of their own bed and a warm cup of tea. Or a cosy bar and some sake.

But all they got was wet clothes, wet hair and a terrible cold. Things they dreaded, even if they were used to it. Even as much as the necessity of duty was ingrained in them from the moment they entered the ninja program, none of them could say the liked this duty. Especially during the night. Keeping themselves awake in such boring moments was usually a hard battle that was often lost among the younger guards.

However, at the moment they were alert. They were searching for unusual chakra bursts, as ordered by the Hokage, and they were ready to leave their posts in favour of finding the source. It could be everything from an enemy ninja or to an unknowing young ninja, but they all knew it didn't mean anything good. The bursts that had come in the span of a few nights had been unstable and the large amount of chakra made it dangerous beyond belief. Depending on the source it could really mean trouble. Big trouble. And that would lead to something troublesome, as a certain lazy ninja would call it.

Suddenly all the guards straightened up as if they had been given a silent and secret signal.

They glanced at each other, giving almost invisible nods, before they leapt up on the roof, all going in the same direction. But long before they had reached their goal the burst was gone and they were left standing in bewilderment while they tried to figure out where they were supposed to go. But the area they had come to was large and hard to search. All they could do was to return to their posts and wait for new orders.

The source of the chakra bursts wouldn't be found this night.

* * *

"Hokage-sama!" The ANBU team leapt into the room through the window.

As unusual as it was, the Hokage was wide awake and alert. She glanced up from her desk and turned to look at the ANBU team for a moment before signalling for them to report.

"A chakra burst came again ten minutes ago. Seeing as it lasted only for a few seconds we were not able to track it. However, judging by the spots the guards stopped at we should be able to limit the search parties to a smaller part of the village."

She closed her eyes for a moment, pondering the situation, before she spoke.

"I want you to gather all the information you can. Limit the area as much as you can. When you have done so send me a copy Also, send a total of four ANBU teams on patrol in the limited area. The chakra bursts are getting larger and they have a large chance of being harmful to our village. I want the source located as quickly as possible. Then secure the perimeter and report to me. Understood?"

She glanced at the ninjas in front of her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

A second later they were gone, leaving a tired and irritated Hokage alone. She searched her desk for a few minutes before taking out a sake bottle and taking a large gulp of it, then she slumped down in her seat and sighed tiredly.

"Why did I ever become Hokage...?"

She thought about it for a moment while she remembered for what reason she accepted, even though she hadn't planned on doing it.

"Yes, that was why..."

She gave a faint smile before falling asleep in her chair, not caring that she would be stiff and sore the next morning.

She knew she would have other things to worry about.

* * *

In an apartment, in some part of Konoha, a boy groaned in his sleep. His body was surrounded by an unnatural red colour and the room was slowly warming up, as evidenced by the sweat on the boy's skin. The boy continued to make sounds almost as if he were caught in the middle of a nightmare. He was muttering some strange words that sounded mostly like gibberish. His face was set into a grimace while he tossed around in his bed, trying to find a comfortable position. After a few minutes a peaceful smile grazed his lips and he went back to more pleasant dreams.

All was quiet. For now.


	2. Chapter 1

Red Chakra

Chapter 1

* * *

_Edit: 20.06.10_

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto groaned tiredly as he woke up. Opening one eye he glanced at the clock, his face showing clear shock when he saw the time.

He was late.

Well, not just late. His team actually had established a habit of showing up two hours later than they were supposed to. After a year with their sensei they had finally decided that showing up on time, literally, was a waste of time.

Hatake Kakashi had a habit which made most people dislike him upon their first meeting.

He was late, always late, for every single meeting he was supposed to attend. And not only ten minutes late, oh no. He was always at least two hours late. Haruno Sakura, the smart part of team seven, had taken to writing down how late he was each time, and the current record of his was eight hours and sixteen minutes. No matter what they said to their sensei he refused to change his bad habit.

Not only was his lateness a bad thing (and incredibly irritating), but he usually had the most ridiculous excuses for being so. From having to help an old lady across the street to being lost on the road of life. No one ever believed him.

The rest of team seven had several times tried to discover the real reason for his tardiness, but he always seemed to sense their presence and then choosing to disappear into the thin air. Afterwards he would give out some ridiculous excuse, never once mentioning their habit of stalking him. Maybe he didn't care or maybe he just found it amusing.

After several failed attempts at discovering the truth, Naruto and Sakura concluded that it had to be that book of his that caused him to arrive late. Sasuke didn't say anything, though he didn't seem to disapprove of their theory. Even so they had some doubt left in them.

The book couldn't be that entertaining, could it?

The whole thing had ended up with them starting to show up two hours later than they were supposed to, but only for team meetings. They didn't think that the rest of their friends (or their paying clients) would find it funny that they had picked up their sensei's trait. Not at all.

But back to the present.

He really was late this time. Later than Kakashi-sensei. Naruto actually beat his record. He should have showed up nine hours ago. It was already nearing dinner time and Naruto couldn't figure out what had caused him to sleep that long. Normally his alarm clock would wake him or he would wake up before the alarm got a chance to ruin his morning. Usually, to his eternal displeasure, the former than the latter.

He looked up at the ceiling for a few moments while trying to think, but upon finding that he had no idea of why, he slid out of bed. And ended up falling to the floor, tangled in his bed sheets. Naruto groaned again before he pushed himself up and dazedly walked to the bathroom.

On his way he started to get dressed and he threw his nightcap back onto his unmade bed. Using his hands he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He still felt as tired as he had been before he went to bed. That wasn't normal, right?

He stared at himself in the mirror for a few moments before tying his hitai-ate to his head. He blinked in surprise when he thought he saw a glimpse of red, but before he could confirm it, it was gone. Shrugging it off as himself still half dreaming, he started to cook some water for his ramen. Naruto yawned a couple of times while he waited and when he finally sat down with the ramen he noticed that his muscles were sore.

Normally a ninja in training wouldn't find that weird. Training tended to cause soreness and Naruto trained hard each and every single day, and as a consequence he should be sore at all the times. However, he had always been rid of the soreness after he slept. His, or rather the fox's, healing powers had always taken care of that. And especially now that he had slept so long it should have been gone. At least it wasn't really a big problem. He just had to try to take it a little easy today.

'As easy as I can, while still beating the teme.'

After gulping down the last of the broth and drinking a large glass of milk, Naruto leapt out of his window and landed on the roof underneath his apartment. He set of towards the training grounds, trying to beat his own record in getting there. His teammates wouldn't find this funny.

* * *

As he arrived he noticed that his team seemed to have started training without him. Not that it really bothered him. It was after all his own fault. Sakura was the first to notice him as Sasuke and Kakashi were sparring against each other.

"You're late!" Sakura said irritably. She gave Naruto a heated glare while she waited for his answer. Both Kakashi and Sasuke had stopped their sparring in favour of finding out why he was late.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. I overslept." He rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

The other members of team seven stayed silent for a moment before blinking in disbelief at his answer. It wasn't the first time Naruto had overslept, but it was the first time he had done so for so long. Normally when he turned up late it was because he forgot about training. Naruto's mind functioned in a way that meant that if he saw something interesting he was likely to forget everything else, depending on how interesting it was of course. And when he remembered he always ran to do the thing he was supposed to be doing in the first place.

One time, when he was younger, he was supposed to have a Very Important Meeting, capital letters, with the Hokage, the old man. At least, it was important for him. It was regarding how he was supposed to live after he left the orphanage. The old man had finally realised that Naruto didn't like it there, and that the orphanage didn't really want him.

But at the day of the meeting Naruto had suddenly found himself near the pier and he had spotted a boy about his age sitting there. He looked lonely, but Naruto didn't go down to him. Instead he hid and watched the other boy, wondering why he was there and where his family was. He didn't get his answers, but he watched over the boy until he got up and left. Afterwards he met with the old man and they had talked. It didn't really cause him any problems and a week later he moved into his small, but somehow cosy, apartment.

"Are you telling me, dobe, that you managed to oversleep for ten hours before you woke up?"

"Um, yes..." He glanced nervously at Sakura who still hadn't moved. She still seemed to be thinking things through.

"You... You what?" She looked at him with disapproval. "You could have come up with a better lie, you know?"

"I know you are a dobe, but that's just plain unlikely." Sasuke gave him an Uchiha patented glare saying that he didn't like the fact that Naruto had used up his precious training time, lying as an excuse and that he would pay for it later on. Naruto didn't really care. He would shut up the teme afterwards.

Kakashi looked up from his book for a moment before speaking. "I think he's serious."

Sakura and Sasuke turned to stare at the blond in silence. When they continued to stare at him, Sakura with her mouth a little open and Sasuke with a little twitch on his forehead, he started to back away slowly. Before they could do anything Kakashi interrupted again.

"Care to explain why you've been late the whole week, Naruto?"

"Um..." Naruto unsure of what to say. For one, he didn't even know himself. "I... Wait a minute! How did you know I was late? I was never later than you."

It was true. He had overslept the last couple of days, but he had always been at the meeting place before Kakashi. Seeing that Kakashi always came later, Sakura and Sasuke hadn't commented on it. Naruto had just assumed that he was a little tired from training and therefore had slept more than normal.

Of course, he hadn't really thought it through. It had just been a passing thought that had only interested him for a split second. His mind accepted the fact and then did nothing else to find out why.

"Are you feeling well?"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts. Obviously he had been standing still for quite a while, judging by the looks he was getting from his team. He didn't really feel well. He had gained a headache, his muscles were still sore, he was tired and he was feeling somewhat uncomfortable warmth that only came when he used the fox's chakra, which he hadn't in a long time.

"Um... Yeah."

Sakura looked at him with a worried expression before she, with a little hesitation, placed her hand at his forehead only to jerk it away a moment later.

"Ouch! I think you have a fever. You're burning up..."

Kakashi put his book away and then looked Naruto over carefully. His one eye showed that he actually was concerned for Naruto. But Naruto didn't really like making others worried.

"Are you sure you're okay, Naruto?"

"Yes. Can we start training now?" His voice held so much insistence that Kakashi's one visible eyebrow went up into his hair before he sighed and gave a little nod.

"Sasuke, you and Naruto spar for a while. Sakura, study their movements and see if you can learn anything." And then he leant back towards a tree before he pulled out his book and started reading again.

For a fleeting second Naruto wondered how come his sensei never finished that book. He should have been done with it a long time ago. But his thoughts on that subject disappeared as he stepped into a fighting stance and faced Sasuke. He grinned at Sasuke and got the normal smirk in return. A second later they were fighting.

Kakashi studied his students' movements as they continued to spare. Something didn't seem quite right when it came to Naruto. He just couldn't figure out what made him feel that way. It wasn't the apparent fever, which he would look into. He noticed that Sasuke had slashed Naruto's leg with a kunai before easily avoiding Naruto's defensive throw.

Well, that was weird. Naruto usually managed to avoid injuries until he became quite tired and they hadn't fought for more than fifteen minutes yet. His stamina was infamous and now it seemed as if he had unbelievably little of it. But he supposed that with Naruto's extremely quick healing a wound like that didn't matter.

Or so he thought until he saw Naruto falling for the third time because of his wound. Sasuke had already told him to quit the fight, but Naruto had stubbornly said no. He still had too much of his pride when it came to the rivalry between him and Sasuke to give up that easily.

Not wise, though a good quality to have in a real fight.

Kakashi continued to watch Naruto closely, taking in all the other signs of something being wrong. His panting, his sweating and then there was his wound. It was still bleeding, while it normally would have been gone by now. Something was clearly wrong.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Stop sparring," he ordered after he got their attention.

Both Sasuke and Naruto glared at him. They had obviously been enjoying it.

"Why?" Sasuke asked coldly.

"Training is over. I've got something to talk about with Naruto." Kakashi glanced at Naruto when he saw that the blond was about to protest. Naruto wisely shut his mouth when he got the warning look from Kakashi.

Sasuke was watching this exchange with unconcealed curiosity. It wasn't often their sensei had private talks with his genin. The other two members of team seven looked at Kakashi, wanting to know what it was, but he gave them a look that told them to go home. Sasuke started to walk away with Sakura running after him. After a few moments he disappeared in a different direction leaving Sakura to walk home alone.

When the other members of team seven were gone, Naruto slumped down to the ground trying to catch his breath.

"Your wound isn't healing," Kakashi commented tonelessly.

Naruto quickly looked at the still bleeding wound and continued to just stare at it.

"Something wrong?"

Naruto looked up at him before looking down again.

"It... It should be healing. But his chakra..."

"What about it?" 'His as in...? What was the demon doing?'

"It isn't in my system anymore..."

Naruto just stared helplessly at him.

"And it should be?" Usually neither him nor Naruto brought up the subject of the Kyuubi. Kakashi because he was still kind of mourning his sensei, and Naruto because he knew that everyone else were uncomfortable about it.

"Yes. It's never been none of his chakra in my system before. That's just... not normal for me, I guess." Naruto looked away nervously.

"Hm, you should talk to Tsunade-sama about it. This could be important. And she could probably heal you too." 'And she can probably get a better idea of what's going on than me.'

"Yeah. I should." Naruto got up and looked at his wound again. Without a word he ripped up his shirt in strips before he bandaged the wound as best as he could.

"Well, then go."

Without another word Kakashi disappeared, leaving Naruto to himself and a painful walk to the Hokage tower. Tsunade-sama could probably solve this and he could get back to his book.

'Icha Icha Paradise, here I come!'

* * *

"Tsunade no baa-chan!"

Naruto barged in the door to the Hokage's office, yelled a greeting and then barely avoided a flying chair headed in his direction. He looked around, noticing the load of paperwork at the desk, the one thing he dreaded about becoming Hokage, and also the bottles of Sake that were mysteriously empty. He glanced at the Hokage and almost laughed at the sight of the Hokage holding her head while trying to sign the paperwork. Shizune had probably insisted or else she would be sleeping it off. She didn't look as the leader of one of the strongest ninja villages in the world at the moment. She looked like an old woman with a head splitting hangover that really should be in bed. In other words, she looked pretty much like her true self.

"What do you want, brat?" Her voice was groggy and irritated.

"Could you check out my leg? I got a slashed there in a spar."

"And why are you coming to me when we have medic-nin at the hospital with more than enough time to take care of you?" She glared at him, trying to convey the message that she wasn't up to playing around with him. Even if he was serious.

"Um, you're a better medic-nin...?"

"..."

He tried again. "You would be thankful for an interruption...?"

"As much as I am, spit it out, brat!"

"The furball's not healing me and I need you to find out why. And Kakashi-sensei told me to come here," he explained.

"Couldn't you have said that in the beginning?"

"Um..." Naruto hesitated while wondering about how much he could say before he was thrown out.

"Never mind." She sighed and then she went around her desk to get a better look at him. "Show me your wound."

He pulled up his pant leg and let her examine the wound. She studied it for a few minutes before healing it, green glowing hands making his skin shiver as the wound slowly healed.

She straightened up and looked down at him.

"Anything else I should know, brat?" There was a hint of a warning in her voice. As if she knew that he didn't really want to tell her.

"Um, I've been sleeping more than usual and Sakura-chan said that I had a fever. But I don't feel bad or anything."

She looked him over and mumbled a bit in between moving around him.

"Hm, maybe you're getting sick..."

"I don't get sick! I've never been sick. I'm not sick!" He glared at her, challenging her to continue with her claim.

"You are."

"Am not."

"You are!"

"Am not!"

A glaring contest ensued between the Hokage and the future Hokage.

"You are! How else do you explain your fever, sleeping and healing? You're off duty until I say otherwise."

"But, baa-chan..." His voice came out pleadingly.

"What did I tell you about that?" She said with anger in her eyes.

"I don't want to be off duty." He pouted and used his puppy eyes.

"Brat..."

"It's boring!" He whined at the Hokage. "I don't wanna!"

"You're acting like a spoiled child." She said with a hint of irritation.

He stopped and thought for a minute. "I am, aren't I?" He frowned.

"You're going to do it whether you like it or not. And no training. If I need to I'll knock you out and tie you to a bed. Now go."

"Fine! I'll be back tomorrow...," he huffed out.

He walked out the door and as it swung shut he finished his sentence.

"...baa-chan!"

A chair could be heard hitting the door.


	3. Chapter 2

Red Chakra

Chapter 2

* * *

_Edit: 20.06.10_

* * *

He looked up at the annoyingly white ceiling and started to count the cracks again.

One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven… Eight…

This was boring. He'd already counted the cracks in the ceiling twice. He didn't like it when it was boring. Naruto shifted on his bed with a deep frown on his face. What could he do? He continued to shift to get more comfortable while he pondered this. After a few minutes of shifting he hit the floor with a painful crack. Well, there was always that...

He stood up and lifted the decayed and dusty mattress off of his old bed. Beneath it were his most sacred and secret possessions. No one, except for maybe his inner demon, was aware of its existence. He had even placed a low-level hiding genjutsu on it, the only one he was capable of, as protection.

Taking a few moments to let his eyes roam over his possessions, just to make sure that everything was there, he started to sort through it on his search for the one thing that might entertain him. Lifting his old nightcap, the one he had now being a replacement, he found what he was looking for. A brightly coloured book lying there oh-so-innocently, half-hidden by his other treasures.

Icha Icha Paradise.

He wasn't a pervert. Oh, by no means. But... He had always wondered exactly what was so special about that book. Ero-sennin wrote it and Kakashi-sensei read it all the time. He had also seen that about half the male ninja population read it. In secrecy mostly, but nonetheless the book seemed to be weirdly popular. And he had never gotten a look at exactly what was inside.

The book in his hand was a gift from ero-sennin. He seemed to be wanting to turn him into a pervert, resulting in the perverted man giving him one of his books. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that it was so that he would stop bothering his sensei when it came to teaching him more jutsus. He hadn't wanted to accept, but ero-sennin had threatened to throw him into the women's bath if he didn't. So he had kept it and never once glanced inside.

But now he was bored. And he couldn't train, for who knew what unspeakable things Tsunade would do to him if she caught him. He shuddered. The book it was.

Naruto hesitated for a moment. He wouldn't turn into a pervert. He wouldn't turn into a pervert. He would _not_ turn into a pervert. He chanted that to himself for a few minutes just to make sure he would remember it. Opening the book slowly, he instinctively closed his eyes. A little peek wouldn't hurt, right? He slowly opened his eyes again and began to read.

Half an hour later he slammed the book shut, throwing it to the floor, and tried to get the images out of his mind. It was hard, but he had said that he wouldn't turn into a pervert. Breaking that promise would be bad. He had to try to stop it.

It seemed like he had failed.

He tried to resist the book, but he found that he couldn't. He would have to keep this a secret. He didn't want to be a pervert!

His senseis would never let him live it down if they found out. And Sakura-chan and Tsunade no baa-chan would kill him. He shuddered again.

Even that thought couldn't stop him. He finally saw why the book became so popular. He groaned, wishing he had never looked, before picking up the book and starting to read again, a crimson coloured blush forming on his whiskered cheeks.

* * *

After reading through the book, the first book he had ever really read through that had nothing to do with training or the Hokages, he sat up and listened to his stomach grumbling in bewilderment. He had completely forgotten to eat. Oh, how he wanted some ramen. Some delicious miso and beef ramen with a few extra ramen toppings... He stood up and yawned a bit. Looking out through the window as he walked past it, he stepped over a few kunais and shuriken he had not bothered to put away. Cleaning had never been his thing. Stopping, turning and retracing his steps, he stared out of the window again.

The sun was slowly creeping up in the horizon. The sunshine glowing in vibrant colours as it hit windows and other reflective surfaces. It was quite beautiful when he thought about it. Creeping up...

Sunrise?

It was dawn already!

Had he really read that long? No wonder he was hungry then. Ichiraku should be opening any moment now. Naruto found his forehead protector lying at the foot of his bed and he wondered if he should put it on. Usually he always had it on, but then again... He was off duty today. He might as well take it as a small vacation. Instead of putting it on he laid it in his left pocket, in case he would need it, and he made his way out of the door.

It was a beautiful day. The sky was cloudless and the sun shone down brightly on everything. He realized that this also made it a very hot day. Not that he usually noticed, except that he really felt comfortable whenever he was warm. However, he did see that other people were sweating and some were even cursing the warmth. Apparently it made them tired and drowsy.

He knew that he was special in that way, but he didn't really go around asking why. It just was like that. He didn't really want to be looked at like a freak, not that he wasn't one already. He suspected that the fox was behind all of this. After all, wasn't the fox a fire demon? He never did ask though. As long as it didn't do any harm he didn't care how he got it. He had to admit that he kind of enjoyed the feeling of the warmth, even knowing that normal people didn't like it at all.

As he rounded the corner and Ichiraku came into sight he felt his stomach rumble again. He hurried up, almost running into the stand. He ducked his head under the hanging cloth as he walked into the stand and he let himself become filled with the scents of ramen. It was a good feeling.

"Ojisan, one miso and beef ramen, please."

Teuchi, the ramen stand owner, turned around and smiled when he looked at his number one customer. The only reason his stand was up and running really.

"Coming right up."

As the bowl was placed in front of him Teuchi looked at him with worry etched into the furrows of his face.

"You don't look too good, Naruto. Something wrong?"

Naruto looked up, surprised, not because the ramen stand owner was worried, but because he had actually seen a difference. Was it really that easy to see that he was not feeling well?

"Nothing, really." He answered solemnly after a short pause.

"Are you sure? You're not acting like your normal self...You're not as energetic or exuberant." The old man looked at him and sighed. "Well... The first bowl is on me. Maybe it'll make you feel better." And then Teuchi went back to work, though not without giving Naruto a final worried look.

As he breathed in the ramen and started to eat he thought about what he should to for the rest of the day. He couldn't train. Even if he wanted to, he didn't want to brave Tsunade's temper. He knew from experience that it was never pleasant to be on the receiving end of her anger. He also knew that she still wouldn't say that he was fine if he went to her.

Maybe ramen could cure it?

An hour and ten ramen bowls later, Naruto sighed and got up from his chair. The ramen hadn't really helped; if he was to be truthful about it he felt somewhat sick and warm. Too warm, even for him. He said goodbye to the old man and left the stand as he thought about what could make him feel better.

Honestly, he had no idea.

It was true what he had said before. He had never been sick before in his entire life. And it had never sounded like a good experience before so he hadn't asked anybody about it. Maybe he should have, but after learning about the fox he had just assumed that he couldn't get sick. The fox seemed to be in personal control of his immune system and thus he never worried. It wasn't like the fox wanted to die, was it? So he shouldn't have any reason to be worried about it. But now, for some reason, the fox had failed him. Well, he had never said that he would keep him well though, so he couldn't really blame it on him either.

He walked through the streets without really seeing where he was going. When he finally looked up he stood in front of an old, worn-out swing. He remembered it from his academic days. It seemed weird to him that it was only a little over a year ago that he had sat there, defeated, as he looked at the graduates while he drowned in loneliness and despair. At that time he truly believed that he had failed. He was starting to lose his dream, but then Mizuki had come, that traitor. But he had to admit, if it wasn't for Mizuki he would probably never have graduated.

Scratch that, he would have taken longer to graduate. If he had found a way to learn bunshin properly. He still couldn't do normal bunshins. It just seemed like he had too much chakra for it. That was probably true too. He wondered why none of the teachers had seen that. He was still only a genin and he was getting more and more sure about the reasons for his failure at that jutsu, but the teachers were chuunin and they should at least have suspected it.

And checked it.

But then again, he was the demon child and no one ever wanted to help him at that time. Well, except for Iruka-sensei and he obviously hadn't known. If he had he would have told him. He trusted Iruka-sensei.

Speaking of Iruka-sensei, maybe he could go visit him. He was at the academy and he knew that classes were still going on. Iruka should be there, ready to receive a visit.

Grinning, Naruto walked over to the walls and started to walk up them. This was way easier than opening each and every door just to look for him. All he had to do was look through each and every window instead. Much easier.

He grinned even more widely when he saw the students that sat inside and were sleeping through the lectures on chakra, the shinobi wars and even henge. Naruto had never really studied beyond what he needed to pass the exam and yet he was pretty strong for his age. At least, he was even to the rookie of the year, Sasuke, and better than the rookie of the year before, Hyuuga Neji. For the dead last that was a pretty good accomplishment. Especially since the 'dead last' had no bloodlines and below average chakra control. He had some quite powerful techniques though. And something else, but that was more of a curse than a blessing so he guessed it at best only evened out the odds a bit.

Glancing through one of the windows just below the roof he saw the brown-haired chuunin sensei lecturing. Enhancing his hearing with a drop of chakra he caught the word Hokage and settled down onto the roof to listen along with the students. At least this was a subject he wouldn't fall asleep to.

"_... he was called the Professor because of his never ending yearning for knowledge. He was said to have known a thousand jutsus and he looked at this village as a family, his family. Sarutobi-sama was a great Hokage and he gave his life for the village in the hopes that our will of fire would never go out. He was a great image of what a true shinobi of the leaf should be."_

Naruto nodded to that as he listened. The old man Hokage had been great. But he would be greater.

"_What about the Yondaime?"_ someone that was likely a girl asked.

"_The Yondaime took the position of the Hokage while the Sandaime still lived. Namikaze Minato is said to have been the greatest of all the Hokages. He was a student to one of the legendary three, Jiraiya-sama, the toad sennin. He always set the village before anything else and in the end he sacrificed his life to kill Kyuubi no Yoko, who you know attacked our village thirteen years ago."_ The chuunin stopped, most likely reminiscing about the terrible night so long ago.

"_Wow. He killed a demon..."_

"_He's the greatest!"_

"_I wanna be just like him..."_

"_Hush!" _The chuunin started again._ "He was a hero. His most favoured jutsu was the rasengan, one of his own crea-"_

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. The students shuffled with their books and stood up in haste to get out of the classroom. No one wanted to stay inside today.

"_We will continue with the Hokages and the sannins tomorrow. Dismissed."_

As the students left Naruto climbed through the window and turned to his former sensei. He stealthily sneaked up on Iruka and –

"Naruto," the chuunin calmly stated.

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms. Just when he finally thought he would be able to do it.

"So what brings you here?" Iruka asked curiously. "You aren't going to make me pay for your ramen, are you?"

"Nah. I just had some. Should keep me going for a little while longer." Naruto gave him a foxy grin. "But afterwards..." He left it there as a mock threat. "Anyway, I was just in the area and I thought I should drop by to say hi. So, how's your new class doing?"

"Better than yours. It lacks pranksters, but there are some sleepers. I don't think I've ever had a class that actually gives me their full attention. An impossibility, I suppose," he mused. "But then again, where is the fun in a good and proper class?"

"That's right! There's probably no fun without a prankster in the class, right, Iruka-sensei?"

They both laughed.

Naruto, having been the top prankster in the class, was pretty sure that he had made at least some days more fun with his pranks and tricks. He remembered once using paint to dye his senseis' hair, including Iruka and Mizuki. Mizuki had ended up with a horrible green colour and Iruka had gotten orange hair. It was one of the few times that the chuunin had actually allowed himself to laugh at Naruto's pranks. For a short while that was. Half an hour later Naruto was cleaning the toilets, knowing that if he left he would have to do it the rest of the year. It had been fun though. He still felt that it had been worth it.

"Right." Iruka turned to his desk and started stacking the homework he would have to check during the evening. "So how have you been doing lately?"

"I've been good. We have been training a lot. Although, it's more like waiting for Kakashi-sensei to show up than training..."

"Hm, I've heard rumours of his tardiness," Iruka commented. "But before he became your sensei I've always thought they were just that. Rumours. Maybe you should get Tsunade-sama to talk to him. A jounin should always be on time."

"Um, I'll think about it," Naruto answered. However, he doubted that even Tsunade could do anything to change that habit. As they say; bad habits die hard.

"Well, I got to go. I have a meeting with one of the other senseis. Try to stay out of trouble, Naruto. Okay?"

"Yeah." Naruto grinned. "See you later, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka said goodbye and then left the room.

Somehow Naruto felt lonely. He couldn't explain it. It was just a feeling that sometimes overwhelmed him. Sighing, he decided to go and settle down on the fourth's head. That always seemed to calm him down and cheer him up. It might have something to do with the view. He could always watch the whole village from that spot in peace. No one disturbed him. Almost no one ever went up there anyway. It was his place.

* * *

As he jogged up the steps to the top of the Hokage mountain, trying not to use too much time, he felt his chakra sway and give place to the other chakra. He couldn't understand it. Maybe this was why he felt so sick. Maybe it was some reaction to that chakra that made his body like this.

It slowly receded and left him alone again. He continued upwards, keeping an eye on his body's chakra system. Suddenly his system went haywire as the red chakra reappeared.

He stopped dead in his tracks and stood still for a few moments until he was sure that it was the fox's chakra running through his system. He wasn't in a battle and he had not called upon it, so was the seal failing? Was the fox getting free?

Naruto wasn't sure, but it didn't feel as if that were the case. No, it was something different. He pulled up his shirt and stared at his stomach were his seal had become visible.

It seemed fine and the pervert sennin had checked it not too long ago. He said that the seal was weakening, but it would take a long time before it became potential danger. Long enough for someone to find a solution. Long enough as in at least ten years, possibly more.

The pervert sennin had admitted though that he was no expert on this seal, mainly because he had decided to never use it. The price of death was too high. And as such he had never seen reason to research the fourth's notes.

That didn't mean that he didn't know how the seal worked, just not everything about it. Like the smaller parts of it and so on. He had assured Naruto that it wouldn't be a problem.

It seemed like he was wrong.

Suddenly more chakra started leaking through and at last it surrounded him completely. The strain it put on his body was too much for him to handle at the moment, so he sat down before he was forced to. He tried to stop it, but it was of no use. It seemed like the chakra had its own will.

Maybe it did.

Naruto could feel the power streaming through him, burning his body yet causing no visible damage and he felt himself gasping for air. The pain was unimaginable and he curled himself into foetal position upon instinct. It became harder and harder to focus. His thoughts were all concentrated on the pain if he had any.

Making a last effort he tried to contact the fox to demand an answer, but it did no good. There was only pain. Before he could even try again he passed out into a thankfully silent and somehow comfortable darkness.

* * *

The dark and dank corridors were there as usual. Naruto sat up and looked around. He was in his mind and he was sure the fox was there too. After all, it was the demon's home. Wasting this opportunity would be stupid, so he should use it to ask the fox for answers. He stood up and studied the corridors. After a few moments of silent contemplation he closed his eyes and let instinct lead him further into his mindscape. It wasn't that hard considering the bloodlust that was seeping through the corridor. All he had to do was to find the centre of it.

He started walking on instinct and a minute later he stood in the corridor leading directly to the cage. Naruto came into the room and looked at the bars. The room resounded with snores. Had it not been a serious situation he might have laughed at the fox. The snores were almost normal, too normal for a demon fox with an image to maintain.

However, this was kind of serious.

"Oi, fox!"

No response, if you don't count the snores getting louder.

"Fox! Wake up!" It didn't work.

He walked up to the bars and hit them with enough force to wake a deaf owl.

"Kyuubi! Wake up!"

A grumbling sound came from the demon as he raised himself slowly onto his legs. He turned towards the unwelcome disturbance in his, most certainly unwillingly, home.

"**Why are you here, Naruto?"**

"Why do you think?"

They glared at each other.

"The chakra, you know," Naruto said after a while of silence.

"**The chakra?"**

"What are you doing, fox?"

The fox didn't even blink and something vaguely resembling a snicker could be heard.

"**Who? Me?"**

"This is not the time for jokes. What the hell are you doing with your chakra?"

"**Nothing."**

"Oh, really? Then why is your chakra forcing itself into my body?"

"**Wouldn't you like to know."** A feral, mischievous grin showed up behind the bars.

"Kyuubi! Just tell me!" He was having trouble containing his rage. He banged at the gate in anger. As he watched, red chakra seeped through the bars and started to surround him. He took a step back, avoiding the demon's chakra, and looked up at the fox. He then closed his eyes and calmed down. The chakra slowly went back to its true owner.

A pair of crimson eyes scrutinized him, before blinking twice. The fox continued on as if nothing had happened at all:

"**But truly, I have nothing to do with it. This is a problem for you mortals to solve. Unless it kills us, I don't care."**

"Hey!" Naruto almost drew on the demon chakra himself so that he could beat up the arrogant being in front of him, but before he could act he felt himself being thrown out of his mind and back into reality again.


	4. Chapter 3

Red Chakra

Chapter 3

* * *

_Edit: 21__.06.10_

* * *

"Argh!" Naruto uttered as he suddenly sat up. He blinked a few times, trying to get a clear view of where he was. Where he was wasn't where he had been, he noticed. The softness under him, the blanket draped over him and the fact that the room was annoyingly white were signs of that. Added together that would mean that he was in a place he truly loathed.

A hospital room in Konoha Hospital.

He groaned before he lied back down again, trying to figure out why he was here. The usual reasons for him being here were fights with missing-nins or spars against Sasuke that went too far. Or him somehow annoying Sakura too much. But that usually hurt.

Now, he was sure that he hadn't been fighting. He wasn't hurt, though that didn't really mean anything with his fast healing. And he wasn't suffering chakra depletion. In fact, it felt like his chakra was stronger than it had ever been before. Almost like... Nah, it couldn't be.

Hm, what did he remember... He had been on his way home when the Kyuubi's chakra had started to flow into his system, which he had found weird. He had passed out because of it; there was no other reason but that. And somebody must have found him.

He sighed turning slightly in his hospital bed, trying to find a better position. His muscles felt sore. He could still feel some of Kyuubi's chakra passing through his body, but it was only remnants of what had been pushed into it before.

As he thought that through he could suddenly hear the sound of some footsteps coming to a stop right outside his door. He could hear faint whispering, but with his senses pushed down to normal he couldn't distinguish any words. He slowly sat up, waiting for the door to open. A minute went by without anything other happening and Naruto started to get slightly irritated. Shouldn't they go in to him if they were there to visit him?

While he grumbled over this, a third person joined them, saying something and then leaving, before someone turned the handle and opened the door.

'_Finally!'_

The first person coming through the door was the Hokage, Tsunade no baa-chan as Naruto called her. Behind her was his sensei, Hatake Kakashi.

"I see you're awake, brat," the Hokage stated with a playful hint in her tone.

Naruto glared at her before looking away.

"Of course I am, baa-chan," he said with a little anger showing in his voice. "Ow! What did you do that for?"

Tsunade smirked a little before taking a few steps away from the clearly angry blond.

"Don't call me that! I'm your hokage and thus you should give me the respect that comes with the name."

Naruto crossed his arms, thoughtfully, before he answered.

"That is only if you should be respected. Honestly you drink too much and you gamble. The worst part is that you never win, sucker." He glared a bit before his face changed into a grin. "Now, when I become Hokage I will at least do my job and not sleep through my hangovers all the time. Or gamble with the funds."

"Brat!"

You could see that the Hokage was trying to hold back on her 'sick' patient, but she was clearly failing. A little polite coughing from behind her stopped her advance on Naruto. She breathed heavily for a minute before returning to her more serious self.

"Oh, that's right. Naruto, what happened yesterday?"

He looked at her with confusion while he tried to think. Yesterday? Had he really been out for that long?

"Yesterday... I passed out, didn't I?"

"Yes." She sighed tiredly. "Do you know why?"

He was about to answer, but then he looked behind her at the still open door. She followed his stare before signalling for Kakashi to close the door.

"Naruto...?" She held him under her glare till he started to squirm a little in discomfort. He pouted before continuing.

"Kyuubi." He looked away for a minute. "Well, his chakra at least. I guess that's the reason."

"What did he do?"

"Nothing, I think." He was still a little unsure about that. Was it the Kyuubi or the seal that had forced the chakra into him? "It could have been the seal. I don't think Kyuubi did it. The last time he tried to escape it didn't go all that well, so I thought he had given up for now. And anyway, I can't feel much from him. Whenever he's planning something I can feel it. Kind of like a bad feeling. Like something is going to happen. Probably his excitement... But I can't feel anything from him now."

"Oh..." She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed to be thinking deeply about the situation and after a while Naruto got impatient. And when he got impatient, he became annoying.

"Baa-chan?"

No reaction.

"Baa-chan?"

Still, only silence answered him.

"Baa-chan!" He yelled at her, hoping to catch her attention. "Ouch! Did you have to do that?"

"I told you, didn't I, brat? Don't call me that!"

"As if I would listen... But what are you going to do?"

She contemplated that for a second or two longer.

"A seal master," she suddenly declared.

"Huh?" He looked at her in confusion.

"A seal master. I guess it's time to check the seal again. Hm, I'll have to contact one. And it might take some time before he gets here. Until then, stay put."

"But...!" A hand pushed him back into bed.

"Hatake, make sure he stays. Understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Good. And, Naruto?"

"Yes...?"

"If you leave this room I'll make sure to put you right back in again in no time. And you will probably have to stay for awhile to recover. Understood?"

Naruto gulped. "Hai."

And then she left the room and Naruto to his boring white walls.

* * *

After around three hours Kakashi left, saying that he had something more important to do with his time. Probably some reading of a certain book.

By this time Naruto was bored out of his mind. No one had come to visit, which might not be so weird seeing as no one knew that he was here. He doubted that Tsunade no baa-chan and Kakashi-sensei had informed anyone about it. Especially seeing that the cause of his 'sickness' was the demon chakra that his peers didn't know about. Not that he couldn't tell them.

No, he just didn't want to.

Telling them would mean that they would have a good reason to dislike him. Or even fearing him. If he was unlucky they might even end up exactly like most of the villagers were. He didn't know if he could face that.

He probably couldn't. And he wasn't willing to take that chance.

He slipped out of bed and walked over to the window. He tucked the white curtains aside and gazed out. It was already evening. He shuddered a bit as he noticed that he was lacking most of his clothes. Looking around he found his clothes, nicely folded onto a chair. He grabbed them and hurriedly put them on.

Now, he did know that he couldn't really leave the room. Tsunade would do horrible, unspeakable things (he wasn't really sure of what, but he knew better than to test her threat) to him if he did that. But he didn't want to just stay cooped up in the boring, white room all the time. That would be, for the lack of better words, boring.

Quickly deciding, he settled his hands into a familiar cross-shaped seal. A second later a perfect copy of himself stood beside him, looking curiously at him.

"Just go to sleep and play your part," Naruto quickly ordered.

The clone looked at him in anger, clearly mad at him for being made just so the original could get away with sneaking out.

"But that's boring," the clone whined. "Why do I have to do that? It's just as boring for me as it is for you."

"Yes, it is," Naruto answered. "But I'm the creator and you're the clone, so do as I say. Got it?"

The clone grumbled a bit, before nodding reluctantly and walking over to the bed. As Naruto leapt out of the window he could hear the clone faintly mumbling the word "bastard". He quickened his pace in anger. He was the creator and he should be respected! It took him a minute to realize that, seeing as the clone was a copy of himself, he had been called a bastard by himself. The irony behind that made him grin and chuckle a bit, easily forgetting his anger. He couldn't be angry at himself, after all.

Now, there was a certain book he wanted to pick up...

* * *

As he heard footsteps nearing the room again he struggled to read down the page he was at and then hastily tried to hide the book under his pillow.

"Hah!"

Too late. His secret was discovered. And by the wrong person too...

Though, were there any right persons?

He laid the book under his pillow before turning to his visitor. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to force down the warmth that was streaming to his face. He would not blush! And yet he did.

"Ero-sennin!" He looked at his sensei nervously, while desperately trying to fight down the blush. "What are you doing here?"

"Hah!" A mischievous glint in the man's eyes. "That was my book you were reading! I'm so proud!" At this point the pervert took a victory dance around his bed. "Your growing up. And you're taking after me too..." He dried away some fake tears. "You've finally understood the true meaning of life! Welcome to the perverts, brat!"

"I'm not a pevert!" And yet he did not manage to say that with the conviction he wanted too. The book was addicting. "Well, not like you at least. But back to my question, what are you doing here?"

Jiraiya pointed to Naruto's stomach.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the seal master."

"What? You're the one baa-chan was talking about?" Naruto looked at him in bewilderment.

"Who else? I'm one of the last. There aren't that many seal masters left. The only one that has ever been better than me was the fourth. And seeing as he was my student I'm the one who knows about your seal the best. See?" The pervert glared at him.

"Um, I think so..." Naruto slowly responded.

"So, take off your shirt."

Naruto sat up and yelled at him.

"Pervert!"

"Brat!"

And they glared at each other. Naruto gave a defeated sigh. He couldn't win this one.

"Fine."

He pulled of his shirt before lying back against the pillows again. Moulding a bit of chakra the seal appeared at his stomach. Fingers prodded the seal and poured some foreign chakra into it. Naruto looked at it, feeling his stomach becoming warm, a clear sign that Kyuubi was watching.

The seal became blacker and started rotating as the pervert studied it. He was mumbling a bit while he continued to prod it.

"...the edges are getting closer to the spiral... why is it becoming smaller? ... Hm, why did you do that, Minato... but that means... the chakra is completely... "

"What, ero-sennin?"

The blond boy glared at his sensei.

"Did you say something?" Jiraiya asked, looking completely oblivious.

"What's happening to me?" He glared at his sensei, trying to make him answer. But he had never been able to master the Uchiha glare that made Sasuke get everything he wanted. Not that he hadn't tried. Occasionally... When he couldn't sleep... Just once in a while... He never got it. The expression seemed to belong solely to the Uchihas.

"Um, I have to talk about it with Tsunade-hime first."

"So you won't tell me?"

"Not yet. Not until I'm sure."

"Fine. Go find baa-chan then. And don't stop for peeping!"

"But..."

"I'll tell her if you do."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"There's no way for you to know."

"Kage bunshin," Naruto slowly stated.

They stared at each other in the eyes.

"Fine. If you do that I'll tell her that you're reading my books. It'll be a pleasure to be able to show her that even the younger generation enjoy my books."

"What? No, you can't! She'll beat the crap out of me if you do!"

"Yeah, so don't tell her anything about my peeping then. Deal?"

Naruto grumbled for a bit. Unfortunately he knew when he was defeated.

"Deal..."

* * *

As Naruto walked into the Hokage tower one day later, having been discharged upon not really having an official reason to be hospitalized, he felt himself becoming nervous. What if it was bad news? What if it was really serious? He was getting a little freaked out and he stopped to calm himself. There was no use in panicking. He didn't know what was wrong with him yet, and even if it was something bad he would deal with it, some way or another. He felt himself becoming more spirited as he thought this through. He was Uzumaki Naruto and nothing could hold him down.

With those thoughts he walked through the door to the Hokage office.

Inside Jiraiya and Tsunade were waiting for him. They just looked at each other for a few moments before Jiraiya cleared his throat and started talking.

"We think we know what's happening. I doubt you're going to like it."

After a moment of silence Naruto spoke.

"Well, what is it?"

"It's the seal's doing."

"What?" Naruto felt himself getting nervous again.

"Basically, you have two different kind of seals placed on you. One that keeps the Kyuubi's soul and chakra inside of you and one that controls the chakra and the way it releases into your body. Now, the Shiki Fuujin keeps its soul in you and I know pretty much everything about that one. But the Shishou Fuuin is something that's never been used before. Well, except on you. It's a creation of the Yondaime's. Together they have changed a bit and the seals complement each other."

He sighed.

"What I know of the Shishou Fuuin is just from the notes of the Yondaime. And even what I found there was vague, but after seeing your seal I've mostly figured out what it does. Shishou Fuuin slips Kyuubi's chakra into you. It's designed to only allow a small, steady amount of the demon chakra to slip into you and to allow you to safely draw on it. But, without our knowledge, the seal has gone through a metamorphosis into something else, gaining new purposes. Now it seems to be changing you. Letting you and the Kyuubi become one in a way. After what I can tell you're merging. Perhaps it's only your chakra, perhaps it's more. However, the Kyuubi seems to be merging with your body, your mind and maybe even your soul. You're merging with the Kyuubi. The Shishou Fuuin should only allow for a small amount to slip through, but at the moment you are receiving much more. It's as if the seals are fading or perhaps changing. And you are being changed at the same time; your chakra, your body, your mind. They are what holds the Kyuubi. Before there were clear barriers between the two of you, but now there's not. You're not becoming one exactly, but you are merging. You have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Exactly what will happen when you do merge...? I don't know. All I can say is that you are merging with it, and I doubt that there's anything we can do about it."

While he had talked Naruto had stayed silent in a shocked silence. This could not be happening. What would happen to him after the merging? Would he still be there? Or would Kyuubi be in complete control? He still struggled a bit with understanding exactly what was going to happen.

"Am I... Am I still going to be here afterwards...?" Instead of his normal loud voice he whispered the question so softly that they had troubles hearing him.

Tsunade looked at him sympathetically as Jiraiya sighed again. Tsunade was the one to answer.

"Naruto... We think you'll still be there. You are the dominating soul. But we can't be completely sure. This is the first time something like this happens. All this is... It's just theories. We can be completely wrong... Or completely right. The problem is we don't know. Lately there have been chakra bursts in the village. In the beginning I thought it could be an enemy, but I figured it out. Every time you start merging, enough demon chakra slips out to alert other ninjas. Seeing that this started three weeks ago... You could merge completely anytime now or it could be in a few months, or even years. It's quite a bit of chakra after all." She sighed tiredly and sat down in her chair.

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade before he softly continued the explanation.

"There's another problem though. Demon chakra isn't meant for humans, mainly because a human can't wield it. We were never supposed to be able to. Jinchuuriki have been known for their ability to use it, but then again that is only because their bodies adapt and become able to use it. How much demon chakra a human can take is a question no one has an answer too. You see, no one has ever merged with their demon before, not that we know of. There is the possibility that you might die...But we have no means of making sure you don't, so we can only hope..."

"Naruto," Tsunade said, trying to support him, "I will do everything in my power to ensure your survival through this. You never asked for it-"

"Baa-chan, don't worry. I can't die before I become Hokage, can I?" Naruto flashed her an attempt at a comforting grin. "And anyway, some chakra isn't going to beat me! Just believe in me."

"I do, Naruto." She looked at him for a moment, remembering her brother and her lover. They were so much alike each other... "Now, as for the other things..."

She stopped and bent down to take out a sake bottle. After taking a large gulp of it she continued, acting more like a Hokage.

"I won't ban you from training. You wouldn't listen to me anyway. I will however ban your team from doing missions until this is resolved."

"What! My team is going to kill me once they find out it's my fault!" He had a panicked look on his face.

"Well, it's either that or you staying in the hospital."

"Fine. I agree."

"Good. Now, I'm going to inform Hatake about your... condition. You should tell them, you know..."

"Huh? Who?" Confusion was evident on his face. He had been too lost in his thoughts to really be able to recognize mentions of someone without their specific name.

"Your teammates. You should tell them about it, seeing as they probably are going to be around when the chakra bursts happen. Your chakra will be visible for them to see. And as far I can remember your teammates do have the ability to think. They will probably notice that something is wrong."

"Can't someone else tell them? I don't really want to see their reactions..." He mumbled the last part.

"You're the only one that's an exception of the law. No one else can tell them. And I'm not going to change the law."

He looked away for a bit before answering.

"Hmph. Fine. I'll tell them. Just not yet."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Can I go? I want to train a bit." In reality all he wanted was to think. For once he really had the urge to be alone by choice. He needed to think this through so that he could go back to being normal. Go back to being the number one unpredictable, knuckleheaded, happy-go-lucky ninja that he was. The person everyone knew him as. If that was at all possible.

"Yes. Though, if something is wrong come to me at once. Not healing and so on is included on the list of something wrong, Naruto."

"Yes, baa-chan."

She didn't react to the insult this time and Naruto left quietly through the door.


	5. Chapter 4

Red Chakra

Chapter 4

* * *

_Edit: 30__.06.10._

* * *

As Naruto sat on the top of the Hokage mountain, on the fourth's head, he thought through what he had learned. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto had quite the ability to think. He just didn't use it. In his experience nothing good ever came of it except for stress and headaches. So, he just refrained from thinking properly, except for when in fights, when he usually needed it, though that was always ended up as more instinct than anything else.

Right now he felt angry. Angry at fate because he was the person to get the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. He wanted to hate. Just hate. That would make everything so much easier and then he would never have to hesitate. Then he would never have to worry so much about every person that he knew could be in danger. Then he wouldn't have to care for everyone.

He had never managed to really hate someone, maybe with the exception of Orochimaru for robbing him of the old man. Hate had never been an easy thing for him. People hated him and he could understand them, on some level. But still. He was only a child and yet they did horrible things to him. If they had ever done any such thing to Sakura or even Sasuke he would have been furious. Naruto wasn't an exception that should be made to take more. A part of him wanted to hate them, the people that had mistreated him. Another part, which probably came from having Kyuubi in him or so he justified it, wanted to kill them. Destroy them. But he didn't.

He couldn't hate them. That would be like giving up on his dream. And he didn't think he really had it in him. It wasn't the way he was. But he was angry at them. But anger always disappeared after a certain amount of time and only left pity inside of him. Pity for them. Pity because they could not understand. Kyuubi often teased him about it, but it was just the way he was.

He wouldn't change just because someone said he should, especially if it was a demon who gave the advice. A demon, especially Kyuubi, should never try to give advice like that. So, he would not kill them. Because that would be like betraying himself. It was not the person he was nor the person he wanted to be.

If fate wanted to be cruel then let it be. Even if it put him down he would jump right up again. He couldn't control much in his life, except for his own actions. If he wanted to be good he was good, if he wanted to be evil he was evil. If he might die he would deal with it. The only thing he could control now was how he reacted to the news.

If he did die, well, then he would make sure Kyuubi joined him.

He stared down at the tip of the nose of the Hokage he was currently sitting on. He smiled faintly after thinking this through. After all, someone had already died for this. Someone had died for this village, the people beneath him, for the belief that something was worth more than a single, but yet important, human life.

To protect Konoha. To protect the village hidden in the leaves.

Now it was his duty. A duty he had been given only mere hours after he was born. A duty he would not forsake, because he had already accepted it, even if he at the beginning hadn't had a choice. No, to keep being himself was his duty.

To guard Kyuubi was his duty, and he would be damned if he would forsake it.

In the end he could not forsake himself and his beliefs. Because, he figured, that nothing was more important than that.

It was what made him what he was.

* * *

The next morning he woke up with the intention of being normal. He would be the normal, loud and happy Uzumaki Naruto that normally annoyed everyone that met him, because most people couldn't stand someone who seemed happy all the time. He would smile and grin, talk and laugh, fight and never give up as usual. Because that was what he had decided. That was what he wanted; to be as normal as possible. Live his life as normal as possible. Even if it was only an illusion. Even if it was a hidden lie. Even if it would in the end break him.

He was going to stand up, make ramen, go out, find his team and then train until he collapsed. And then he would eat something and sleep the rest of the day away. And then he would keep doing the same thing the next day. And the day after that. And the next day again. Until he was forced to stop. And even then he would continue.

Groggily climbing out of bed, he managed to avoid tripping. He sleepily rubbed his eyes while trying to focus on his goals for the day. Stretching a bit, he tried to remember the next step of his plan.

Ramen.

He walked over to his stove, while tossing his sleeping-hat onto the bed, and tried to decide which type he wanted today. Miso ramen sounded good. He opened his cupboard and took out three packets of ramen before starting to heat up some water. As he waited he found his clothes, thrown out across his kitchen, and he hurriedly pulled them on. Just as he was done someone knocked on the door.

He swore softly under his breath. And the ramen was going to be done soon too.

He just hoped it wasn't a guest.

He opened his door and looked out, expecting someone to stand on his doormat. When he didn't see anyone he shrugged a bit before he put his head through the opening, searching for a person that obviously wasn't there. Just to make sure he stepped out and looked behind his door too. It never hurt to make sure. Well, at least not in his case. Permanently that is.

As he looked behind the door he got a glance of a kunai, with a message tied to it, protruding from the wood. He sighed, wondering just how much money would be needed to repair the crack in his door. Probably more than he had. Maybe he could get some money out of the ninja that had put it there. Silently doubting that, he grabbed the kunai and unrolled the message. It was definitely not possible to get some money out of this ninja. He would probably just tune him out while he ranted.

_Seeing as we don't have any missions to do we'll be training at training ground thirteen._

_Don't be late._

_Kakashi_

As if Kakashi wouldn't be late. He really didn't have the right to tell someone not to be late. He sighed. Training ground thirteen.

Now, where in the world was that?

* * *

Panting slightly after running all the way to training ground thirteen, Naruto looked around to find his whole team waiting for him. He had had to find someone to point him in the right direction. In the end the crazy examiner, Mitarashi Anko or something, had told him where it was after threatening him to never disturb her dango meal again. As if that was important. Ramen was better anyway.

But then again he was already sure she was crazy. After all, who would be a ninja like her? She was loud, obnoxious and a show off at all times. Also, her smile was, for the lack of a better word, scary. He was glad that she wasn't his sensei. He was also extremely happy that she didn't have a clone or something like the one Gai had in Lee. That would have been too scary. Another person like her... He shivered at the thought.

Wait, his whole team? Kakashi smiled down at him, or so he thought, judging by the man's one visible eye and eyebrow. Then he realized why; he was late.

"Tsk, tsk. Late again, Naruto?" He could hear Sakura giggling at him and Sasuke had a barely visible smirk on his lips. Grumbling a bit, Naruto walked to stand beside Sasuke.

"Today we're going to have a three-way fight between you guys. No chakra usage is allowed unless you expect to die without it. But only if you have no other choices. However, you lose if you have to do that to survive. Understood?"

"Sensei, does this mean that we can't use jutsus?" Sakura asked timidly, yet with a hopeful tone in her voice. Not using jutsus would give her a greater advantage.

"No jutsus. No Sharingan either," Kakashi added as he looked at Sasuke. "Naruto and Sasuke use chakra all the time while fighting. So do you, Sakura, but to a lesser extent. You're too dependent on chakra."

"We're ninjas. We're meant to use chakra. That's what we do," Sasuke grumbled.

"Right. We are ninjas. And true, ninjas do mainly use chakra. But what happens in the case of chakra exhaustion or you somehow being cut off from your chakra?"

"We lose...," Sakura said slowly.

"Right, and do you know what happens when you lose against an enemy ninja?"

"We die," Sasuke stated.

"Exactly. So that is why we're training like this. Some of you," Kakashi looked over at Naruto. "are so dependent on chakra that, in the case of not having access to it, you probably would not be able to win. You would simply not be able to fight on the necessary level. I would say, that at this stage, you would all lose. So we're going to train without chakra today."

"What can we use then, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in a dejected tone. Chakra was his main weapon. His advantage.

"Taijutsu and kenjutsu, of course. All weapons are allowed and so are traps. Use the terrain to your advantage. You should all have at least some skills beside jutsus. As far as I can remember, it's needed to graduate. So use them. Just avoid chakra usage. Ready?"

Receiving a agreeing look from Sasuke, a stiff nod from Sakura and Naruto's scowl, he brought up his book, smiled at them and 'poofed' away.

"Is he even going to watch?" Naruto asked after blinking a few times.

"Probably not," Sasuke answered shortly.

"Right," Naruto said in disbelief. "The loser gets to..."

"Can't even think of something, dobe?"

"Teme, as if you-"

"Ramen." Sasuke stated, cutting him off.

"What?"

"You love ramen. If I lose I'll buy you dinner, if you lose you have to do whatever I tell you to."

"Why should I agree to that? You'll just make me do something weird..."

"Are you afraid, dobe?"

"Huh?"

"Sounds to me like you already believe that you'll lose. Of course, you're right." Sasuke turned away with a smirk on his face. "Loser."

"Teme!" Naruto launched himself at the Uchiha in fury. The Uchiha however simply sidestepped the assault, smirking as he watched Naruto land on his stomach with a grunt.

"Um, guys..." Sakura's unsure, soft voice went unheard.

"I'll make you eat those words, teme!"

"How, when you're so weak?"

Naruto, having already got up from the ground, spun around and got ready to attack Sasuke again when something hit his head. Spinning around he saw Sakura half-glaring at him with an expression that spoke of imminent death if he didn't stop, mixed with a small amount of insecurity, but Naruto paid it no mind. Sakura's glare was outright scary.

"This is supposed to be a three-way fight! Not a word fight, though seeing as you didn't use chakra it's probably allowed. We're supposed to fight so that Kakashi-sensei can see where we stand. We don't need you, Naruto, to mess it up," she glared at him. "And, Sasuke-kun, shouldn't we be going into hiding? A ninja's greatest weapon is stealth, although Naruto over there doesn't get it."

"Sakura-chan...!" Naruto wailed.

"She's right, dobe. But you don't know how to hide, do you? It'll be easy to win when my opponent is you."

"Hah! You wish, teme!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'll show you..."

"Sure you will," another one of the infamous Uchiha smirks and he was gone. One last glance from Sakura before, she too, disappeared into the trees.

"I'll show them...," Naruto mumbled, his temporarily good mode already destroyed. "I'll show them how good I am!"

Deciding that the best choice would be to retreat and try to think this through, he leapt into the trees, going in another direction from his teammates, trying to find somewhere safe to hide. After a few minutes of leaping through the trees, which took him several hundred metres away from the starting point, he slowed down to take a look around.

Training area thirteen was different from the others, mainly because of the large forest that covered the grounds. Occasionally you would be able to find a small pond or river hidden by the tree roots. The trees themselves were gigantic, best compared to the size of the trees in the Forest of Death. The difference was that there were no weird animals or bugs hiding in between them. Also, the expanse of this training area was rather large compared to the other training grounds. Comparing the two forests would make it clear that this training area was much safer than training area forty-four. And Naruto was happy about that.

Deciding that some tree roots would suffice as his hiding place he settled down under a root and crossed his legs as he tried to think of something he could use.

After a while he sighed; he really was at a disadvantage here.

Firstly, in pure taijutsu both Sakura and Sasuke beat him more often than not. Even if he avoided playing fair, his mind supplied the fact that a ninja never played fair, he would still lose. Sasuke was faster than him and his taijutsu was excellent. Something good had to come from having Sharingan. Sakura however, even though she lacked speed and strength, when she wanted to her punches could be rather mean. Her style was perfect though, probably from studying her textbook examples in her spare time.

Naruto himself however... He had to admit, taijutsu was not his thing. Sure, he could keep fighting longer than most and he had strength to back up his punches and kicks. But his style was almost nonexistent. It wasn't his fault that no one had ever bothered to teach him properly. All he had was watching others learning it. And it wasn't exactly as if Kakashi had ever bothered to really teach them. That was a miracle that only happened once in the blue moon if they were lucky, but mostly he just watched while they sparred and trained their strength and speed. He had long ago guessed that Kakashi didn't like to teach, preferring to read Icha Icha instead.

He wondered why the man had become a jounin sensei at all if he didn't like it. He couldn't really understand why... Perhaps the old man Hokage had threatened him or something. At least that reason seemed more plausible than Kakashi doing it willingly. So, he knew that taijustu was useless. Traps; he could lay them, but Sakura was better at it and Sasuke would probably find them the moment he came close to them. Kenjutsu... He couldn't wield a sword or anything. That left kunais and shuriken, and whatever else he had.

His aim was good enough though, but again both Sakura and Sasuke could beat him at it. He let a frustrated sigh slip past his lips, shaking his head slightly in displeasure.

The reason why he was stronger than Sakura and could fight on par with Sasuke was his chakra and stamina, not that he would ever admit it to their faces. Without it, Sakura could beat him easily. That is, if he was normal without his chakra.

As it was, now he had his stamina and healing ability going for him, and there was still some leftover chakra from Kyuubi passing through his veins. Even if he couldn't use chakra, the demon still changed his body. His senses were much stronger than before.

The first time he had noticed it was after the fight in Wave country. Only, then he didn't know what it was. After the fight his senses bothered him for days, refusing to stay normal. His nose, eyes and ears would suddenly become so much stronger. He was able to hear whatever people said or whispered inside of Tsunami's house and he could smell everything she used while cooking. His eyes were able to pick up more details than before and at night he could still see almost as well as if the sun still shone. It had bothered him, but he hadn't complained nor had he mentioned it to Kakashi. It was his problem and it wasn't like it was killing him. Just making it harder to concentrate and sleep. And after a week his senses had returned back to normal.

Now, after the recent surge of demon chakra, his senses had improved greatly. And right now it was his greatest weapon. No one but extremely talented jounin, or someone stronger, would be able to sneak up on him. And even if he wasn't a master of tracking, he would be able to track his teammates. He already knew their unique scent. It helped of course, that Sakura used flower scented shampoo and Sasuke always trained in the morning, meaning that he was covered in dried sweat.

Really, an enemy ninja with a summon or a good sense of smell would have no problems in tracking them. He himself smelled of forest plants and foxes for some reason. He guessed that it was a certain demon's chakra which was behind that. Not that he minded. Unless someone knew his scent they wouldn't know what to track. Honestly, he smelled fox. All right, perhaps a fox that ate ramen, but still. It was better than his teammates. At least he could be mistaken for a fox; they smelled distinctly human.

But even if he could easily find them it didn't change the fact that defeating them would be next to impossible. Sure, with his chakra he would probably be able to at least fight both of them at the same time, equally for a while, but without it... He gave a small smile when he realized what Kakashi had tried to teach them. Without his chakra he was practically useless.

He got up and stretched. At least he could do his best. Miracles tended to happen around him and he could certainly try to make another one happen. If he could beat Haku, Neji and Gaara, he could beat his teammates. Of course, when he did that he had used chakra, more specifically; he had used Kyuubi's chakra.

This once he would have to make it happen without chakra. He could still fight, perhaps not as well as before, but he wouldn't go down without trying. He looked through his pockets and made a list of the contents.

Nine kunais, five shuriken and three exploding notes. Not exactly what he would want to fight with, but it would have to do. Somehow he would have to win with that.

He decided not to ponder on it now and instead find his teammates. When he knew where they were, he could figure out how to win. That was his usual strategy. It was like this he had won his fights before, and it was like this he would win again. It was only a matter of how. But he would burn that bridge when he came to it. Or was it 'cross that bridge'? No matter. All he had to do was win. Put like that it sounded easy and if he had any say in it it would stay like that.

Finding his teammates was definitely easy. He only had to reach the place where they had all stood together and then sniff around a little, as stealthily as he could. It helped that he already knew that his teammates weren't in the vicinity.

After getting their scent tracks he decided that it was much safer going after Sakura than Sasuke. He had a greater chance of winning against her, even though her taijutsu style was superior to his. Sasuke, even without his Sharingan, was deadly.

Had he been normal he would have gone after Sasuke first. Normal would mean less stamina and lasting injuries. If he were normal he would have had to spare all his energy for Sasuke. But he wasn't. He could concentrate on Sakura and then go on to Sasuke. After all, the best would be to get rid of the competition first.

And no matter what he felt for Sakura he would not lose to Sasuke. He didn't want to think about what Sasuke would do to him then. That bet might not have been the best thing to do when he was at a disadvantage.

He grumbled a bit as he crouched down behind a bush while being at the lookout for Sakura. She was near, very near. And so was Sasuke, Naruto thought as he swore under his breath.

Although he hadn't really planned anything except for ambushing Sakura, it was a terrible mistake to forget about Sasuke.

Of course Sasuke would go after Sakura too. Probably for other reasons than his though. Mainly, Sasuke not being able to find him.

Naruto's stealth wasn't that good, but he had been pretty far away from his team. It would only take Sasuke a minute to decide to go after Sakura instead. After all, she was his closest target. The only target he could find. Sakura must have thought the same, except for her, the target was Sasuke.

Naruto carefully climbed up a tree, and when he reached the height he wanted he hid behind the leaves. He was pretty sure that his teammates were on the ground. Without chakra it took too long to climb high enough. He had time though. All he had to do was wait.

There was a clearing beneath him and he knew that both Sasuke and Sakura were hiding near there somewhere. But they wouldn't wait forever. Especially Sasuke, who probably wanted to win much more than Sakura did.

Though he would deny it, the Uchiha had a competitive streak. When there was a bet going on, he would do anything to win, excluding breaking the rules. He had far too much pride to do that.

Naruto, after meeting the older Uchiha, had come to the conclusion that it was something in their blood. Pride, arrogance, anger, hatred and a competitive streak... He guessed that it ran in the family. He couldn't confirm it however, after all, only two Uchihas still lived and both of them were a bit deranged if you were to ask him. And Sasuke had even centered his life around the single goal of killing his family's murderer. Which probably wouldn't turn out well.

Although, if your brother killed your entire family you might have wanted revenge too.

A kunai shot through the leaves and into the clearing. Naruto stared for a second before taking cover on the other side of the three. The explosion that was coming shook the trees around him, and for a moment he feared that the tree would fall. It didn't, though some of the leaves started burning; the tree's sturdy roots held it firm.

Who starts a fire in the middle of a forest without a good reason?

And no, a competition did not qualify.

Naruto shook his head quietly while restraining himself from jumping into the clearing to find the perpetrator. He wanted to yell their heads off for some reason. This forest shouldn't be harmed needlessly; it would harm the inhabitants of it. And for what reason? A spar? He wanted so much to yell, but he didn't.

His need to win was greater and even if he did yell they wouldn't listen.

Instead he concentrated on the surroundings again, noticing how silent it had become bar the rustling of the burning leaves.

His teammates were too cautious. At this rate he would never win. He didn't have the patience to wait much longer, but his teammates did. If only it were Kiba he was sparring against... Then he would have won already.

Like this he would be sitting there for the rest of the day waiting. He would have to do something, but what?

He grinned a bit as an idea hit him. If they didn't want to start fighting yet, he would make them.

He sniffed the air again and caught Sakura's scent. After one more minute of sniffing he was able to find the direction where most of her natural scent was. She had definitely gone that way.

He followed her trail while trying to stay as hidden as possible. He wanted to avoid becoming the prey at the moment. He was the hunter and she was his prey, and by playing a trick on her he would turn her against his other prey and then he wouldn't have to fight both of his prey. Yes, that was a good idea.

He caught a glimpse of pink and red in a couple of bushes beneath a strong tree. Nothing moved and no sound was heard from the bushes. If it weren't for the vibrant colours and the flowery smell, he would have missed her. And judging by the direction the kunai was thrown from, she wasn't the perpetrator. Meaning that he knew the general direction that Sasuke was in.

Now, to make them fight.

He took out four kunai and three shuriken as he hid in a tree behind her. She was only a few meters away from the clearing and if she were to step into it Sasuke would attack. He didn't want to hurt her, but he could scare her into leaping back.

And if Sasuke hurt her he would make him pay.

Taking a deep breath before he positioned himself, so that he could throw it right, he took a kunai into his right hand. He aimed it at a point a little to the left of Sakura and then he threw it. As it whistled through the air he prepared another two kunai. As the first one hit the bush it rustled slightly, barely enough to be taken as anything other than the wind had there been some.

He quickly threw another one closer to her and aimed the next one into the bush.

This time she jumped up with a kunai in her hand, ready to defend herself. He threw the shuriken and the last kunai, aiming so that she would have no choice but to jump back to leave herself unscathed. And the jump sent her into the clearing.

Suddenly a barrage of kunai came from the other direction and Sakura had to dance around them to avoid them. Occasionally she would use her own to knock them off course. Obviously, Sasuke had more kunai to spare. As the attack stopped Sakura stood there with bent knees and slightly hunched shoulders as she searched the surrounding for her enemies.

As the barrage had come down on his teammate, Naruto had snagged ten kunai that had been thrown off course in his direction. At least now he was armed again.

Nothing happened for a few minutes. Naruto watched Sakura intently as she kept her guard up and her eyes darted from tree to tree in search of her attacker.

Of course, she must have known that they both were there. After all, without a jutsu it was hard to send kunai from entirely different sides at her.

He slowly began to move from tree to tree, in a circle around the clearing, as he waited for something to happen. He was so concentrated on the clearing that he didn't notice his surroundings. One minute he was prowling the ground, the next he was held down.

"Teme!"

He turned his head slightly and glanced up above him, directly into the coal black eyes that held something that weirdly looked like glee. It disappeared though, but there was still a smirk on the brunet's face.

"Idiot. You make it way too easy." Naruto glared defiantly up at him as he struggled to get free. But it wasn't that easy when he couldn't move his arms or legs. "But then again, you are weak."

"I'm not!" Naruto could feel something burning in the centre of his body before it spread out through it, slowly but surely. However, when Sasuke continued it was easily forgotten.

"Hn. Then how do you explain this?"

"I was distracted."

"That is being weak, dobe," Sasuke stated. "A good ninja should never be distracted."

Naruto was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to respond. He had been distracted and Sasuke was right. A ninja shouldn't be distracted. Ever. But that didn't mean that he would admit it. No, Sasuke wouldn't get the last word this time.

"Like how you were with that red-eyed man, your brother? What was his name...? Oh yeah. Itachi."

The Uchiha tensed and glared down at Naruto, challenging him to continue.

"Because as far as I can remember you forgot about everything else when you saw him. You were so obsessed with him that you didn't think. You didn't even notice fish-face."

Using some unexpected strength, Naruto managed to flip them around, with him on the top. He smirked as he looked down at Sasuke's face, too caught up in the moment to even notice how the Uchiha's Sharingan eyes were blazing warningly. Hot spiced warmth spread through him as he smirked.

"You know, that means that you're weak, doesn't it? You said it yourself." Naruto grinned at the words, feeling how good they sounded coming from his lips. And to top it off, he was in control when he said it. "You couldn't beat Haku, I did. You couldn't stand up to Orochimaru, I did. You couldn't win against Gaara, but I did. And against Uchiha Itachi... You never stood a chance." Naruto, who was cheering over his victory on the inside, didn't notice how still Sasuke had become. He wasn't even struggling. "You're weak."

"Shut up..."

Naruto glanced down at Sasuke in shock. The words that were coming from his rival's, no, friend's lips, were so soft that hadn't it been for his extraordinary hearing he wouldn't ever have heard them.

"What...?"

"Shut up."

It still didn't sound right. It was too silent. Too emotionless. Naruto didn't like that. It wasn't how he wanted it to be.

"Oh, but you are weak, Sasuke-kun," he tried teasing.

"Shut up!"

Naruto blinked as he was thrown against a tree. He didn't know why Sasuke had reacted that way. It was just their usual banter. The usual insults being thrown at each other. The only way they really interacted. It was only that, right? Somehow it didn't feel like it.

"Sasuke?"

He felt a hand closing around his throat as another pushed him back against the tree.

"Take that back."

He stared into the spinning, red eyes as in confusion. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

"What...?" he responded weakly.

"Take that back!"

"Sasuke-kun!" Naruto turned his eyes towards the one and only kunoichi in their team. Sakura stared back in shock as she came out from behind the trees. They had forgotten about her. "Kami, what are you guys doing?"

Sasuke's eyes however, were only concentrated on Naruto. And Naruto stared back.

"Take it back, Naruto!"

Something was wrong, very wrong.

"I..." That was all managed to get out before his world erupted into heat and pain. He vaguely saw Sasuke staring at him through the red haze, with a mix of confusion and horror on his face, before his black haired teammate was thrown back against a tree and slumped down against it. Sakura seemed to be reaching out to him before she too disappeared into the haze of red.

He felt tears of pain and confusion streaming down his face. What was happening? What had happened? Where were his teammates?

What had he done?

* * *

He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up. He might have been out for a few minutes or a few hours. He honestly didn't know and neither did he care. Where were they?

He opened his eyes and blinked a bit before looking around in a daze.

He was on the ground where he fell and his teammates were some way away from him. Sasuke lay beneath a tree and Sakura lay curled up on the ground. Had it not been for his hearing he would have believed them both to be dead.

But they weren't. He could hear their harsh breathing coming out in harsh puffs and he let out a relieved sigh before it all caught up to him.

They were hurt!

The blood. He could easily smell it and it was theirs. So much. And all of it theirs.

He had to help them. He tried to move, but he couldn't. He was powerless when his teammates could be dying!

Tears started to gather in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Had he been able to, he would have dried them quickly and then just forgotten about them. But now they were lingering in the corner of his eyes making him even sadder as he thought of the times he had cried before. But he refused to dwell on it.

They were still breathing. That was good. They could still live. Now if only he could get up to help them.

Painstakingly slowly, he managed to pull himself up on his knees and arms. He started crawling towards Sakura, wincing every now and then as his muscles protested. He felt like he was going to pass out again. He knew the demon's chakra wasn't good for him, but to leave him as weak as this? No, he couldn't be weak.

Not now. Not when he needed to get help.

They were hurt because of him. And so he had to help them. They were his teammates. His friends, even though they probably wouldn't admit it to him. They were his precious people and now he had hurt them. He was supposed to protect them!

But it hurt and Sakura seemed to be miles away from him. For every centimetre he managed to crawl his body protested. He knew that he really shouldn't be moving right now. But even if he was hurt he had Kyuubi; his teammates didn't.

Pushing as much chakra into his body as he could, he managed to crawl another metre before he collapsed. He growled helplessly as he tried to push himself up, but his body wasn't reacting. He tried again, but he only managed to raise himself a couple of centimetres before his body gave out.

"That's enough, Naruto," it clearly was an order, but it came out a bit softly. Naruto raised his eyes to meet Kakashi's. It was strangely comforting, knowing that for once, he wasn't alone. "It wasn't your fault. Don't you worry; I'll take care of them."

"You promise...?"

"Maa, do you doubt your sensei, Naruto?" There was a fake, accusing tone there lightening the already heavy atmosphere a bit. "I'll take care of them. I promise. And a ninja never breaks a promise."

Naruto smiled slightly before closing his eyes.

"Then I guess it's alright..., 'Kashi-sensei."


	6. Chapter 5

Red Chakra

Chapter 5

* * *

_Edit: 01.07__.10._

* * *

He woke up in the hospital, the light in the white room hurting his eyes when he tried to open them. After the third try he managed to keep them open, only to close them again after a few seconds. It was worsening his headache.

Everything that had happened came back to him. The stupid contest, the tracking, tricking Sakura, Sasuke being mad and Kyuubi's red and malicious chakra pouring out of him. Because he knew it had been that.

And that was exactly why he was in a hospital.

The question was... Where were his teammates?

He wasn't too worried though. Kakashi had promised, and he wasn't the kind of person to break a promise. No, he could trust him. What bothered him was the fact that it had been him hurting his teammates, and not an enemy. And that knowledge made him feel like he shouldn't even be here. He didn't have the right too.

He wasn't so naive that he thought he could protect his friends forever. He knew he couldn't, but that didn't mean that he would quit trying. Because every single little thing he did mattered. It was for that reason he trained. It was for that reason he never gave up. It was for that reason he had his dream. He would protect his precious people. Only then would he be truly strong.

But he hadn't. He had hurt them. He could have killed them.

Everything was his fault. If he had just thought through the dangers of being around them they wouldn't have gotten hurt. If he had thought about it he wouldn't even be here. He wouldn't be the cause of this and he could have just pretended that everything was fine. It shouldn't have happened.

And it wouldn't happen again. He wouldn't be a threat to them. As long as he was around them he was a threat. How to not be a threat? The answer was really simple and obvious. And he could do it.

He grinned at his new resolution, instantly feeling better now that he knew what he was going to do. Knowing how to protect them. And he swore upon the Hokage Monument that he would do it.

He opened his eyes, and without looking around, sat up. He blinked a few times before turning to the right side of the bed to get out. He had things to do and little time to do it in.

"About time you woke up."

He turned around, looking straight into a corner where a man had taken up residence. A book slammed close as the man sat up.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi's one eye crinkled.

"Yo."

Naruto let himself fall back into his pillow, burrowing his head there as he waited for Kakashi to either say something or leave. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He really didn't. A deep silence settled over the room, but Naruto didn't pay any attention to the time. It could have been a few minutes or an hour before Kakashi decided speak again.

"How are you, Naruto?" His voice seemed a bit hesitant, as if he was unsure about how to start. Seeing as his sensei always was confident, as far as he had seen, it confused Naruto.

"Fine," he mumbled, just loud enough for Kakashi to catch it.

Silence.

"Sakura and Sasuke are going to live. You know that, right?"

Naruto made a deep sound in his throat as a sign that he was listening. He didn't want to say anything. And he had hoped for that.

"Sasuke only has a few burns and he should be waking up soon. Sakura... She's asleep for the moment and probably will be for a while. They just have to get its chakra out of her."

"Kyuubi's...?"

"When you had that... burst, Kyuubi's chakra settled into the surroundings. It's temporary though, but Sakura managed to get quite a bit of it into herself. Hokage-sama is working on it right now. Don't worry; she has done this before..."

"Sasuke...?"

"He will be fine. He had a bit of its chakra in himself too, but it quickly cleared out. The reason he is sleeping right now is because of chakra exhaustion, however that did happen."

"Oh..."

"I promised, didn't I, Naruto?" Kakashi chuckled a bit. "You guys are my teammates too. And it's not like I'd let you down. Even with this new... problem, we're still a team. Don't you dare forget it." He got up from his chair and took out his book again. His one eye smiled as he reached the door. Naruto didn't comment on his sensei's sudden urge to leave, but Kakashi answered the unspoken question. "Stay put. Who knows what Tsunade-sama will do if you leave. Rest or she will order you to when she stops by. Which reminds me that I was supposed to go and talk to her... Two hours ago, was it?"

Naruto groaned as Kakashi chuckled as he left. He wanted to get up and just get out of this room, but the Hokage was coming and it would be easier to just stay a bit longer. Just a little longer.

* * *

He woke up to cold hands shaking him lightly and someone calling his name. He tried to turn away, but when that didn't work he tried to push the annoying person away, his eyes still closed.

"Brat, rise and shine!"

Naruto groaned and tried to shield his ears with his hands. He didn't want to hear her now! It was still too early. He wanted to sleep!

"I know you are awake, brat. You have slept for long enough as it is now."

The words spoken near his ears vibrated through his head and he could feel a headache forming. Good hearing was overrated.

"Go away!"

"Nuh huh, you are going to get up now!"

"Don't wanna...," he mumbled sleepily as he again tried to turn.

"I don't care," was the reply. "Honestly, Naruto, you have been sleeping for three days straight now. It is time to get up."

"What...?" He opened his eyes and squinted as he watched the blur in front of him.

"Get up."

"Three days...?"

"Yes. Apparently the bursts have a negative effect on you. Your body recuperates through sleeping. Of course, that means that it is drawing on energy directly from your body to create more chakra. Which again means that you can't sleep too long. With your metabolism... You need to eat quite regularly to support your chakra output."

"I think I got that...," he slowly said, still pondering bit over it. "Food equals chakra. So a large amount of food supports my chakra."

"Something like that. I doubt you would understand the details if I explained it correctly to you anyway."

"Are you calling me stupid, baa-chan?" He held back a small grin at their obvious play. He was going to miss it.

"And what if I am, brat?"

"Argh! Just go away! I can eat later. It's not like I'm going to die because of it."

"You really think so?"

"It's not like the furb...- Kyuubi would let me die that easily, is it?"

"No, but to do that it would have to use demon chakra and you would end up having more bursts."

"Fine! I'll get up..."

He sat up tiredly and glanced at Tsunade's tired, but somewhat pleased, smile. For once she didn't reek of sake, she had probably been working for quite awhile.

"How's-"

"Your team?"

He gave her a tense nod, worried despite the fact that he believed everything his sensei said, almost everything that is.

"Uchiha Sasuke is fine. He woke up briefly a few times before falling asleep again. I have almost completely healed his burns and he isn't likely to have too much scarring. Nothing that is really visible anyway. Remarkable really, when you think about what caused it. But then again, the Uchihas always wanted to be remarkable... " She paused for a moment. "Haruno Sakura is still unconscious. I trust that Kakashi told you what is wrong with her?"

"Kyuubi's chakra..."

"Yes. Her body is still tainted by it, but I have managed to drain her of most of it."

"So she's...?"

"No, she is not going to die. It will however take her a while before she can go back to active duty again."

"But the chakra never harms me..."

She pointed to him and the bed. "And why are you laying in that bed now then?"

"Not that badly, at least. I just get tired, that's all."

"Your chakra system gets tired, you mean." She sighed before settling down in a chair. "You have to realize, Naruto, that normal humans can't wield demon chakra. Can't touch demon chakra at all in fact. And no, I am not saying that you are a demon or a monster. You are human, but your body has been adapting to demon chakra since the day you were born. That is the reason why a human baby was needed, and not a grown man or woman. Babies adapt more easily. The demon chakra would have killed a grown up, while you, as a baby, managed to contain it. For a person not used to demon chakra, touching it would mean burns, wounds or death itself. Which is why your team is in the hospital right now. It's not your fault; you can't control it. But we need to find a way to limit it."

"Why haven't you already done that, baa-chan?"

"It takes time, Naruto. Jiraiya suggested a seal, which I am inclined to agree with. The problem is that such a seal doesn't exist. Even though I have told him to make one – and no research while he does it – it may still take a year or so to complete it. Seals are... difficult. Especially seals dealing with foreign chakra. There is a reason for the lack of seal masters and that is the skill needed to make them work. Very few people have the necessary concentration."

Naruto snorted in disbelief. "Ero-sennin? Concentration? For something other than girls? I doubt it."

Tsunade smiled at him, her eyes glinting in the hospital light.

"I wouldn't have believed it either if I didn't know for certain. I have seen him use his seals. When he wants to he can do it. Believe me."

"So..."

Tsunade looked at him intently.

"So what am I supposed to do? It's not like I can go on missions or train or anything..."

"We will figure something out. Who knows, I might find something for you to do that will take a long time to complete."

"But I want to continue just..."

"Being a ninja? I know, Naruto, I know. But the Kyuubi is making you a danger and as the Hokage... I can't let you do any missions until this is over and done with."

"But that could take years and...," he paused for a moment, before continuing in a more sober tone. "I would lose too much. Too much time, too many chances. If I don't start now, how am I going to prove that I'm worthy of becoming Hokage? They hate me, you know. That won't change if I disappear for a while. It'll probably become worse." He noticed the look on Tsunade's face. "I want to become Hokage and I know what I need to become one. Taking a break, even if ordered, would just make matters worse. I can't let them forget either. How I've changed. Or rather, how their opinion of me changed. I can't."

Tsunade looked down on him, regret clear on her face.

"I am sorry, Naruto. I know you can't, but I can't let it go either. I don't want to say this, but at the moment you are a potential threat to Konoha. Those chakra bursts have just proved that they are dangerous to others. And I have to do what's best for Konoha. I know that Jiraiya will find a way to help you. And I will help you..."

"I know..." He looked through the window, at the cerulean sky and the birds flying freely just above the treetops. "I don't want to, but I understand it. I love Konoha and its villagers and I don't ever want to hurt them. It's just..."

"You don't want to be left behind? To be forgotten?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry, brat. You leave way too much of an impression behind to ever be forgotten. Believe me. It is impossible to forget you. You are just too loud and obnoxious for people to ever forget the chaos you create." She smirked at him, enjoying the irritation that was starting to show on his face.

"Baa-chan...!"

"And then there are your clothes. No ninja can become great in orange clothes. They are just screaming 'come-and-kill-me'. Whatever possessed you to buy them? They are horrendous and they leave nightmares behind, believe me." She looked like she was remembering something that left a bad taste in her mouth. "You should get rid of them. It's no wonder you attract trouble."

"I don't want to!"

"Who is the Hokage here?" She smirked at him. "What if I order you to?"

"I... I...," he stammered. "Then I refuse to go on missions and afterwards I'll start a prank war! Believe it, you don't want to be my target."

"Oh, I am so scared!" She took a step backwards in mock fear, before grinning at him. "As if you could actually come near me. I am the Hokage, I wouldn't let you win that war."

"I'm going to surpass all the Hokages! I'll just have to start with you!"

"I would like to see you try," she smirked at him. "You have the words, but do you have the strength to back them up?"

"Just you watch me! I'll prove it to you! One day I'll be on that mountain watching over this village. Just you wait!"

"I will, though I doubt you will surpass me," she grinned at him, but held up a hand when he was about to start protesting. "But first you will have to eat. You are getting too skinny." She poked his ribs, which were starting to become visible, to prove her point. "The ramen should be here soon. Make sure you eat it all."

"Ramen? You actually got me that?" Naruto looked at her in surprise. "You always say that I shouldn't eat it... Are you joking with me?"

"No. But I figured that you would eat more if it was ramen and you need to eat so I decided to be nice for once. However, don't expect me to order more later on. You will just have to deal with the hospital food afterwards. Understood?"

"Yes," he answered hurriedly. "Now, where's my ramen?"

"Honestly, Naruto," Tsunade started before chuckling a bit. "You are never going to change, are you?"

"Nope, not planning to," he grinned at her.

"Good," she replied while grinning back at him. "Shizune will be here with the ramen shortly. I have to go. There is a council meeting today and I do cherish my sake," she paused, before muttering '_stupid Shizune_'. "Try to stay out of trouble, will you, Naruto?"

"Yes..."

"Good. See you later and make sure you eat!" She walked out of the door after flashing him a smile.

"Yes, mom..." Naruto sighed, before remembering the ramen. A smile slipped onto his lips. He really was hungry and he would need the food. It was just a plus that it was ramen.

Yes, first food and then he would have to get ready. Find everything he needed and then let the plan commence. But he wanted to see his teammates first. He needed to see that they were actually alive. He knew they were, but he still needed to see them. Just to be sure. He didn't like worrying and seeing that they were fine with his own two eyes seemed to be the only way to calm himself.

He lay back in his bed and relaxed. He didn't need to do anything right now, except maybe eat that ramen. And then he could start to think of what else to do.

"Naruto-kun?" Shizune pushed the door open as she balanced two trays with six bowls of ramen in her hands. "Your ramen is here."

She easily put down the trays onto his bed before standing up straight to look him over.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he mumbled in between slurping up the broth from his first bowl.

"That's good."

Shizune stood there, watching in silence as he ate one bowl after another, and when he was finally done she lifted the trays again to take them out.

As she turned to leave Naruto spoke; "Oi, when am I getting out of here?"

"In a couple of days, I think," she smiled at him. "Any other ninja would have had to stay a month at least... You burned out your system, Naruto-kun. That should take some time to heal, even if you're special."

"Mou, that's too long...," he whined.

"Please bear with it. Tsunade-sama will only let you out of here when she thinks that you are completely healed. And healing takes time."

"But I'm fine!"

"Only when Tsunade-sama says it will I believe it. Please rest up, Naruto-kun. That's the best way to get better."

He put his lower lip out and tried making his eyes as large and round as possible, a few more seconds and they would get teary.

"That won't work on me." She smiled at him when he grumpily started brooding instead of pouting. "Behave, Naruto-kun, or else I'll tell Tsunade-sama to check up on you because you were causing 'trouble'."

"You wouldn't."

"I will if you don't start resting properly. Now, I have to go and make sure Tsunade-sama shows up to her meeting. Sleep well, Naruto-kun."

She left, leaving Naruto alone in the all-too-white room as he glared at the ceiling in hopes of its disappearance. It took him a while, more like an hour, to remember that no one was keeping him in the room and that it was time to leave. He got out of the bed and then calmly took his clothes from the chair beside his bed. For some reason his head felt clearer now than it had been for a long while. Perhaps it just was because he knew exactly what to do now.

Finding his teammates and strengthening his own resolve was the first thing.


	7. Chapter 6

Red Chakra

Chapter 6

* * *

I completely lost motivation for this story a few years back. Call it writer's block, if you wish. I do however have the end of this written. A few more chapters and an epilogue and this story may be considered done. I will be posting those chapters with about a week between each starting today. I'm contemplating a sequel or a second part for Red Chakra, but I'm not sure about the interest for that or about my motivation for writing it. I do have some ideas though. I have also been doing rudimentary edits on the past chapters, so please tell me if I left any mistakes.

For those of you still reading: enjoy.

* * *

Naruto slid the door open, cringing slightly at cracking noise it made. As he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, he wondered why he was there. He didn't belong here. Not with those he had hurt. Subconsciously masking his steps, he walked to stand between the two lone beds currently occupying the room.

The room looked dead to him. Everything in the room had this eerily, clean feel to it. White walls, white curtains and white beds. It didn't feel lived-in. Nor was it meant to be. The room was something that would have better suited old men or women than young shinobi.

Above the two beds were clipboards containing information on the two patients. For someone else it might have meant something, but for Naruto the information was just a meaningless drabble which he could have done just as well without. It wasn't necessary for him to have it there, and it would probably never be. He doubted he would ever understand it or even need to.

In these two beds his teammates lay. In beds not meant for them. In beds meant for older people in a room no one could really enjoy staying in. Yet they weren't awake to think those thoughts.

Both of them really looked like children when they were asleep. There were oddly innocent looks upon their faces, as if they had never really had to worry about anything in their lives. It was a look which he might have recognized on Sakura's face, but never on Sasuke. Not the Sasuke he knew. And yet he could remember a time when an innocent boy had sat down in class smiling, but that was before the massacre.

Sakura was laying there with her bright pink hair surrounding her like a halo, and Sasuke beside her with his dark hair clinging to his pale face. They didn't belong there. Not in a hospital like this, as if they had an illness they couldn't be cured of. As if they were just patients, not shinobi. As if they were fragile little things that needed protecting.

As if they hadn't fought off enemies before or harmed anyone, because how could someone that looked so young have done that? They shouldn't look so fragile, weak and innocent.

Sasuke and Sakura weren't fragile, weak and innocent.

Naruto didn't know why he was there.

He had felt compelled to go there. An hour ago it had felt right. Now he couldn't recall that feeling at all. It really wasn't fair, how he could heal instantly if needed while they truly had to lay there to recover. Sometimes he wished he could just be normal. Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he was. Would something have changed?

The creamy white curtains were drawn, making the room look darker and more unfriendly than it should in the autumn months. As he listened to the peaceful breaths of his teammates, his intentions became stronger and less likely to break under the strain that surely would come in the future. He had a need for companionship, friendship, and he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing.

They hadn't said it. Not one of them had uttered a word that would describe them as anything more than teammates. Sakura may have preferred that there were more between her and Sasuke, in the same way that he sometimes wished for the same between him and Sakura. Sasuke at times made it openly known that would rather have been without them. They all described themselves as teammates, nothing more and nothing less.

They were a team.

Team Seven.

A support network of sorts made for each of them. They made up for each other's short-comings. They worked together on missions and while training. Someone they could depend on.

Your team is your family.

He had heard that before, but was it true? He had never been part of a family before. He didn't know, but looking at them like this...

He wanted to preserve this, the thing they had. This was his role in the team. This was the right thing to do. Staying would mean destroying that.

They didn't need memories of them blaming him for this, because they would. It was his fault.

His stomach tightened up at the thought of leaving, it made him nauseous and all he wanted to do was stay.

Loneliness. Longing. Sorrow. Need.

He didn't know exactly what it was; only that he would have to defy it. He stared at their pale faces and tried to memorize each and every detail, knowing that he would fail. He promised himself he would not though. He had to what he had to do.

He blinked a few times and dragged his hand through his hair, deciding to not memorize their faces after all. Why would he when he would be back?

He wished he had something of importance to say. Goodbye was out as it was something he didn't want to say before he absolutely had to. Goodbye was something definite meant solely for endings. This was both a beginning and an ending.

He would be back.

He stood there awkwardly for a moment before deciding for some other words of at least equal importance.

"I'm so sorry."

Naruto turned around and left.

Somewhere a giant clock was ticking away and he could feel his heartbeat synchronizing. He didn't have time for more than this.

There was always the future. He would have to hope for that.

* * *

The fresh air of night tickled his face as he walked slowly through the village. He could have moved faster, jumped from one roof to another, but that would have drawn more attention than what he was feeling up to dealing with.

And he didn't want to leave too quickly.

Naruto breathed in deeply; the smell of smoke, earth, vegetation and humans assaulting his nose. He rather thought it was his favourite smell. This was the smell that symbolized Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves.

He glanced covertly at the stalls that littered the small shopping street just a small length away from his apartment. It was late and it looked as if they were all closing up, old men working together to cover up the wooden tables, children running around and picking up small pieces of something just to present it proudly to their parents, a woman gathering her cloths and handing them to a yawning teenage girl.

This was also a part of the village he loved. But maybe this life wasn't for him. Perhaps there was some other path he could carve for himself out there, something that would help him on his way to become Hokage. If he still could be one at the end of all of this. He could at least try.

Naruto really took it in for once; the faded colours of the buildings around him, the streets and bridges that crossed each other haphazardly and the darkening sky above him. Around him people were going home to their families, the lights were turned on in thousands of windows as the village prepared to have supper and the villagers and the ninjas prepared to go to sleep.

This was his village.

This was the place he wanted respect from and the place he wanted to protect.

His friends lived here and this was the place his life had started at and the place where it should end at.

And yet he was leaving.

This was for a good cause, Naruto assured himself. Leaving had to be good because it protected his friends. With the chakra bursts he couldn't live in this peaceful and friendly place.

But it wasn't truly peaceful and friendly all the time, what, with the chuunin examination. However, one day Naruto would make it so. One day he would give them peace. One day he would fulfil his promises. One day was long time away. He swore that it would happen.

First he had to make himself safe for others to be around.

More determined than he had been just half an hour before Naruto strode on towards his home.

On the outside of his apartment block an old woman stood. His neighbour, Taro Hanako, stared at him as he approached. She had never liked him.

As Naruto walked past her he could swear she was glaring at him and he knew that she whispered 'monster', despite her trying to hide it. He tried to ignore it as he walked up the stairs.

No, not all was good in Konoha. And leaving might not help. He would return though and then he really would change the people's minds. He wouldn't let Konoha turn into a bad village. Never would he allow that.

Naruto stopped in front of his front door, looking at the mark on his door, courtesy of Hatake Kakashi, and reiterated that thought.

Never ever would he allow that to happen. Never.

He entered his apartment after fumbling with his keys for a bit and at once opened a window to clear out the dusty air. He coughed for a moment before he turned around to just look.

As he looked around his apartment, searching for the few things he needed, he thought back to when he had finally been given his own apartment. The old man had been with him at that time, overseeing him moving in. He remembered grinning and laughing, and even hugging the Hokage as he looked around and inspected his new apartment.

As far as he could remember, that was one of the first times he was truly happy. The other time was when he had ramen at Ichiraku's and found out that he actually was welcome there, something that was unusual for the vessel. He had been so happy and he'd eaten a lot at that time. He still returned to eating Miso ramen just because it gave him the feeling of being accepted.

But leaving meant leaving this apartment, perhaps for forever. Not that it would be that bad, it was just that... His apartment was a place that contained quite a few of his memories, not only good memories, but memories nonetheless. Precious memories. In the years he had lived there it had become something more than just a place to sleep; it had become his home.

No matter how damaged his home had become he had never stopped coming there. He had patiently washed away the writings that occasionally appeared at his door and he had made sure to keep it liveable.

Now he would have to leave. By his own choice. But for him it wasn't just a choice. It was the best solution he could come up with. A long time ago, in his own mind, he had sworn to find his own way of the ninja and live a path of no regrets. It was hard, but he didn't give up. Leaving now meant that he could save his friends. Staying would mean a greater chance for them to get hurt. He had only one option. There had always just been one if he wanted to avoid hurting them.

Naruto sighed and flopped down onto the floor. Sitting there he looked around, committing every little detail to his memory. This very apartment was a dear memory to him and he would make sure that he wouldn't forget it. He wouldn't forget the first time he used his sleeping cap. He had been eight and one day it had just been lying on the bed. He had wondered for a moment how it had got there, but as it was in his apartment it surely meant that it was his. Naruto could easily count the times since then when he hadn't used the sleeping cap. He had never found out who left it there, but he could guess who the likeliest candidate would be. He would never know now though.

He remembered the old man giving him the picture of the ninja sign of Konoha to hang over his bed as a birthday present once. He'd used to stare at it for hours as he dreamed of what he would do when he became the Hokage. It had been an inspiration during many of his low moments, but now he had to leave it behind, like everything else.

He would leave, but this place would still stay in his heart. As would his friends, teammates and each and every one of their senseis. His precious people. The ones he would always protect. To leave was to protect, he decided. This time leaving was the right choice.

He just hoped someone would take care of his apartment and his plants. He'd been taking care of them for years, his silent friends. They'd had to listen to many a complaint and to a lot of his talking about becoming Hokage and Sakura. Someone would surely take care of them. Iruka-sensei would if no one else. His teacher knew what they meant to him. And he wouldn't let them die either.

Naruto found his only working backpack and opened it. Peering inside he saw that he couldn't take much. His sleeping cap went into it first. Then a small change of clothes. A needle and some thread just in case he had to mend some of his clothes. A bottle for water. A small cooking pan for food. Four ramen cups, all he had in his apartment. Naruto looked into his refrigerator and drank the last of the milk before it became useless and looked around for more things to bring. A weapon sharpener set. Five kunai and two shuriken, the only ones that didn't need to be replaced. Some ninja wire. A thin, water-proof blanket. Gama-chan went onto the top. He could live on this.

The back-pack was bulging but it wasn't so bad that it couldn't work. Naruto fastened it onto his back and went to the open window. He jumped out, landing on the roof before taking another jump and spent some seconds in the air before he smoothly landed on the empty street. Most people were inside now.

Naruto headed off at a sedate space towards the Hokage mountain and the faces that overlooked the village, trying to not look too suspicious. But he was known for going there so that in itself would seem normal, though the backpack would not.

Naruto gazed up at the monument as he walked. The faces look back at him. He still swore that one day he would be up there as the greatest of the Hokage. One day.

As he walked onto the top of the Hokage mountain he turned and looked back down at the village. His village.

"So, I guess this is goodbye..."

Naruto looked back at the village that had been his home, and still was. He remembered all of his bad times there. The looks, the whispers and the attempted assassinations. He remembered how much he had hated it when he was younger. But then he decided that he had no need for hatred and he made a promise to himself. Never give up. And he had decided to become Hokage, a decision that was still with him.

He could also remember the good times. Being with the old man, realising that he had friends, albeit few, and people starting to acknowledge him. Finding that he had a 'family' in his friends. Obaa-chan, ero-sennin, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke and the rest of the rookie nine.

At least, he would call them his family. The only one he knew of. He didn't know of anyone else as his parents had never been mentioned by anyone. He'd always been alone until his chosen family came along.

"...for now."

He was leaving, but not forever. He would come back. When he was sure that he was no longer a threat to the village. He couldn't bear being that. He and Kyuubi were merging, and even Jiraiya couldn't say much about the outcome. Kyuubi himself hadn't said much about it either. He probably didn't know.

When he came back he would be stronger and he would be able to control all of his chakra, even Kyuubi's. They would be one and he would have to deal with it. He would overcome the hatred the villagers still felt and he would convince them that he could and would be the leader of their village.

He would come back soon. Naruto promised himself he would.

He looked down at the artificial forest that Konoha had made its village into and smiled softly. The lights in the evening and the calm he felt from the almost asleep village were extraordinary. No other place was like this.

This was his home.

This was what he would return to.

"Hey, you ready?"

'**For leaving? You know I hate that village.'**

"I know. Still, it doesn't mean that it isn't our home."

'**Your home. Stop being sentimental and just go.'**

He stood there for a few moments.

"Well, I'm leaving. I'll be back, Konoha."

'**About time. Leave now.' **The Kyuubi was silent for a long moment before adding his last piece.** 'Don't get caught.'**

"I won't, Kyuubi. I won't."

Naruto turned around, closing his eyes for a moment before he stubbornly started to walk away from the only place he had ever known. The first steps were the hardest, but after a while it became easier to convince himself that this wasn't forever. It would only be a trip. He would return.

Naruto managed to go on like that for twenty minutes before he tripped, ended up flat down on the ground, face crushed into the earth, and was met with a wheezing laughter.


	8. Chapter 7

Red Chakra

Chapter 7

* * *

Naruto looked down at the ground for a moment before he turned his head towards the source of the laughing and glared.

"Hey! Why are you-" Naruto stopped abruptly when he realized that the man wasn't even paying attention to him. He fumed for a bit before he sat up to really look at the person in front of him, who was still laughing that wheezing laughter.

An old man was sitting on a root dressed in a simple hakama, holding a wooden staff, while he seemed to be laughing himself silly. Naruto pushed himself off the ground and continued to glare at the man as the laughter still rang through the forest.

In the back of his mind, Naruto hoped that no one was looking for him yet for if they were he would be found rather quickly. But he couldn't exactly tell a random laughing stranger to stop laughing because it might just get him caught either. That would seem stranger, and strange was bad. Iruka-sensei had said that people more easily remembered strange things when he had tried to talk Naruto into changing his orange clothes into something in more neutral colours. Iruka-sensei hadn't succeeded, but Naruto could still remember the warning. Asking the man to stop would seem strange.

Naruto glared for another moment before he started walking again with a small groan. The old man didn't seem to want to stop his wheezing laughter so he would just have to continue. The farther away he could get the better.

"Oi!" The man seemed to have finished laughing. "You are Naruto-san, right?"

Naruto stopped for a bare second, before he continued to walk. Not good. Was the man a part of Konoha? He didn't have a hitai-ate at least. Maybe he wasn't. Better to just ignore it.

"Vessel of the Kyuubi, right?"

Naruto stopped.

That was not public information.

The man shouldn't have known that.

Naruto turned, "Who are you?"

The man gave a small bow, while his brown eyes stayed focused on Naruto, "Himaru, at your service."

"How did you-"

"-know who you are? I have my ways." Himaru smiled. "Those marks on your cheeks makes it easy, you know. You're known by them. And a bijuu's chakra has always been distinctive, even while hidden in a human vessel. I'm sorry to say, but it has become fairly well known to those in my circles who the vessel of Kyuubi is. If Kyuubi no Kitsune is mentioned then so is Uzumaki Naruto."

The man paused for a moment, seemingly scrutinizing Naruto.

"Did you know that there's a bridge named after you?"

"What?" Naruto finally uttered.

"Oh yes, yes. In Wave. I do believe you and your comrades wandered by there some time ago. The bridge really is quite magnificent. They named it the Great Naruto Bridge. That is because of you, right?"

"They did?" Naruto hadn't heard this before. He thought they would name it something less personal. Though, the Great Naruto Bridge sounded pretty great. And in that moment he wanted to be with his team and brag about it. He wondered what Sakura and Sasuke would say and how Kakashi would look. But he wasn't with them anymore. He couldn't say this to them. "Really?"

The man nodded. "Yes."

"Great." Naruto couldn't feel too happy about it, though perhaps he should go visit. He did have time, but, no, it wouldn't be safe. He could still harm them and he couldn't let that happen. They weren't even strong enough to survive it. Sasuke and Sakura had been lucky, Inari or Tazuna would likely not be.

"You're making a name for yourself quite early. Of course, it's to be expected of a vessel. You really shouldn't have been surprised that I knew who you were."

"I wasn't surprised!" Naruto protested.

"Yes, you were," Himaru stated sagely.

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't," Naruto repeated. "This is stupid."

"Of course it is. Is that a bad thing?"

Naruto didn't answer.

"It's pure and simple banter. Quite common, especially among children. To tell the truth, I find it somewhat relaxing. There's something childishly pleasing at the thought of still being able to participate in it. Makes me feel younger."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"Himaru, as I previously told you." Himaru raised an eyebrow in reproach. "You should have been able to remember that."

"I did. I meant what you are. Why are you here?"

"Now that's a different question and I see it's growing late." Himaru glanced up and Naruto followed his gaze. There were stars to be seen in skies and Naruto was becoming increasingly aware that he really should be getting away from Konoha as quickly as possible.

"I should be going," Naruto said.

"Nonsense. Let me offer you supper and a place to sleep. My camp is quite close by. And I can continue to tell you what I am and why I am here, with you, by the fire instead of here in the cold."

"No, I really should be going. I need to continue."

"I'm sure you do," Himaru said understandingly before lowering his voice and continuing to whisper somewhat conspiratorially, "I can hide you from those who would wish to pursuit you. I'm quite good at it in fact."

"Ah, but those who are following me would be able to find me if I stayed. They're-"

"- ninja. I know. Once upon a time I was one as well. Trust me. They won't find you as long as you are with me." The man smiled. "May I welcome you to my camp?"

And before Naruto's eyes a camp suddenly appeared. He jumped back in surprise before he started looking around; a campfire with a meal hanging over it, a satchel and two bedrolls. There was no way Naruto could have missed this. The man must have hidden it in some way. If he had been a ninja: genjutsu?

Perhaps the man really could hide him. Although Naruto knew he was quite literally terrible at genjutsus and he knew he wouldn't have recognized it at all if the man hadn't shown him. There was nothing to say that Kakashi-sensei or someone else wouldn't see through it.

Himaru settled down on the root by the fire, wheezing a bit, and started stirring in the food. It looked like some sort of a vegetable stew and it smelled good.

"A few more minutes…" The man muttered. "I'm a monk for the fire temple and Himaru is the only name I have now. I've been a monk for a long time though I used to be one of you ninja, but that is really another story which won't be told in a single night and certainly not tonight. To make this short, I'm here because of you and Kyuubi, Naruto-san."

"Why?" was all Naruto could ask.

"Isn't it rather obvious? It's same reason you are leaving your home, namely, your sudden chakra bursts. I came to offer a choice, a different path to the one you're currently walking on. There's an option you don't know about."

"There is?"

"Yes. What is it that makes you the most reluctant to stay in Konoha, Naruto-san?" Himaru wheezed out, still stirring the stew for supper.

"The chakra bursts… They hurt the people I wanted to keep safe. They're still in the hospital. I… I don't want the chakra to hurt people. They shouldn't have to be harmed just by being near me. And I can't prevent it when I'm there. It's safer now that I'm gone."

"I quite agree." The man looked away for a moment. "It is safer without you."

Naruto deflated, not quite wanting to truly accept it because what he really wanted was for it to be a lie. He knew he shouldn't think that, but part of him couldn't help it. He hated being a danger to others and he really didn't want to be one. If there was a chance that this was just a dream he would take it. But that was weak. It was real and he was a danger to people because of the chakra. His teammates had been proof enough of that.

Naruto started to draw patterns in the moist earth while pondering on this.

Was there anywhere he could be without being a danger to anyone? It would need to be somewhere deserted. And somewhere he could actually live, so it couldn't be, say, the desert of Wind. As it was, he didn't really know anywhere he could go. Naruto freely admitted that he had never truly paid attention to the geography lessons Iruka-sensei had tried to teach his class. Now he regretted that.

"Yes, it is," Naruto agreed.

Himaru nodded.

"I need to get going. You know it's not safe to be around me."

"And where would you go?" the man asked.

"I don't know. Somewhere away."

"Rest for a moment," Himaru said as he found two bowls and cutlery from the satchel and started to fill them both with stew. "Here. Eat. You look like you need it."

Naruto was indeed rather hungry, but at the same time he knew he should leave as quickly as possible. He could always just eat and then leave afterwards. Better to eat now before he got hungrier, and he knew that he needed the food for his chakra. Naruto accepted the bowl and, with a murmured 'itadakimasu', started to shovel in.

"You could come with me," Himaru said as he blew some wheezing breaths on the hot stew. He stirred it for a bit before taking a small piece and quite obviously chewing slowly and carefully.

Naruto looked at him with his mouth full and somehow managed to utter a garbled, but understandable, "Where?"

"We know exactly what has been happening to you."

Naruto swallowed his mouthful of stew and stared at Himaru suspiciously. He couldn't help but suddenly remember Sasuke's brother and the fish man. They had also wanted him because of what he was. Himaru suddenly seemed more suspicious. "We?"

"The fire monks, of course. We take care of the land and we do notice disturbances like this. Your chakra bursts make you a threat to your surroundings. If you hadn't left the ninja village on your own I would have come by to have a chat with you and most likely take you with me. You're not the first vessel to have this problem in Hi no Kuni, you know."

"I'm not?"

"Oh no, of course not." The man wheezed for a bit and took another bite of the stew which he again chewed very carefully. After a minute of this he continued: "And we do have planned measures that we take in such cases. We don't allow the demon chakra to destroy more than it needs to. That would be wasteful. There is of course the balance to take into mind, but sometimes the need for safety and peace outweighs that. You can't have good without evil in the same way that you can't have creation without destruction. However, there has to be limits to both and the chakra bursts were deemed just a bit too harmful."

"What measures?" Naruto asked curiously. Was there really something that could help besides a non-existent seal? He ate the last of the stew and waited for the man to answer.

"There is chamber that should be able to contain your chakra, the Kyuubi's chakra released through you, that is," Himaru said before he took another bite of the stew. The man closed his eyes for a moment while he chewed. "Truthfully, the vessel who used it before you was much weaker. Sanbi's vessel I believe it was. It was a long time ago…"

"And it worked?"

"Oh yes. Those two became one. The chamber held the chakra and no one was hurt or killed. It should hold your chakra as well."

Naruto wasn't quite so sure. Sanbi was surely weaker than Kyuubi. Sanbi had less tails and probably less chakra. Ichibi hadn't seemed to be that strong when he fought Gaara. But maybe there was another reason for that. Bijuu weren't general knowledge and Naruto really knew very little about them and their strength. Sanbi did have demon chakra though, same as he did, so perhaps it could work.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked as a last check. Himaru did seem to know what he was talking about.

"Quite so. Theoretically there is no reason it should not work." Himaru took another bite of the stew and seemed to ponder on something. "We, the fire monks, hereby offer Uzumaki Naruto, vessel of Kyuubi no Kitsune, sanctuary in the fire temple's chamber. Do you accept?"

"I wouldn't harm anyone?"

"No."

"And what if the chamber doesn't work?"

"The chamber is in a quite deserted area, under a mountain. People do not frequent that area. If all else fails the risk of harming anyone would be small." The man wheezed again.

"Do you think that place won't work? I won't let anyone get hurt that way if I can avoid it," Naruto stated stubbornly.

"Quite an admirable ideal you have there, Naruto-san, but yes, I do believe the chamber can hold your chakra. I see no reason as to why it shouldn't. And you need to find somewhere to go soon. A new chakra burst shouldn't be long in coming."

"I know," Naruto stated somewhat morosely. He really did have to find somewhere. Just wandering around aimlessly wouldn't guarantee that no one would be hurt. Given time he might be able to find an island or something to live on, but for now he didn't have anywhere. And the man was right; chances were that another chakra burst would come and it could happen soon. He needed to decide.

"I see that has you thinking," Himaru said as he continued to slowly eat. "I almost seem to forget that you are but a child. Twelve summers now, right?"

"Thirteen."

"Ah, your birthday was just a short while ago, wasn't it? Happy belated birthday to you then."

Naruto didn't answer. No one had remembered his birthday. No one had congratulated him. He remembered Sasuke's birthday and Sakura's congratulations. Sasuke hadn't cared, but Naruto couldn't help but envy him. No one cared to remember him enough to actually offer a single 'happy birthday'. Granted, birthdays really didn't matter much to ninjas. Acquaintances never bothered with them, but Naruto knew family and teams usually did. Team seven never had though.

And now a complete stranger had offered him what he hadn't gotten on the day. There was something infinitely sad about that.

"Thanks," Naruto replied quietly. "So…"

"The chamber is a safe place for you to go where you won't harm anyone. I can promise you that." Himaru gave a small smile. "The question then is; are you willing to go there? Will you let me take you there?"

Naruto frowned. Despite popular belief he did have some common sense. You didn't just go off with a random stranger when you happened to be the ninja carrying Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest of the bijuu, who was quite likely sought after in the Elemental countries. Just being a vessel seemed to make people think he was a demon or a monster and try to lure him off so that they could take their revenge or execute him for some random thought-up sin. It had happened before in Konoha; assassination attempts or just villagers who wanted to harm him.

Once, when he was six, the ANBU had had to intervene when he had been offered bread by a baker who had seemed so nice. His six-year old self had all but worshipped the man during the short period of time he'd been able to trust him. And then, just as he was about to take the first bite of the freshly baked bread, the cloaked ninja with animal masks had stormed inside and taken the bread away from him. He remembered hearing the ANBU whisper of poison as he stood there not knowing what to do. Naruto had always avoided the baker after that. He couldn't just trust strangers; he had learned that, especially the strangers who tried to offer him something despite knowing who he was. But Himaru seemed honest and if he did really know of a safe place it might be worth following him. He needed a place where he couldn't hurt others.

Besides, Naruto didn't have another place to go to.

"Okay," Naruto finally said after a long pause for thinking. "I'll go with you to that fire temple. And to that chamber. No one will get hurt if I have a chakra burst then, right?"

"Right. No one will get hurt. The chamber is quite safe and well-hidden from strangers. No one will get hurt because of you there." Himaru ate the last pieces of the stew and started to clean up.

"Great. It's better-"

Himaru broke off his sentence. "-than anything you could have come up with."

"Yes. It is. It's a better option." Naruto smiled sadly. "No one else will get hurt."

"No one else?" Himaru stopped his motions and just looked at Naruto for a long moment.

Naruto looked away.

"No one else. I hurt my teammates. They're in the hospital now, getting better. I hope…" Naruto started tracing patterns in the moist earth again.

"They'll get better. If they are still alive, they will."

"I sure hope so."

A gloomy mood settled over them, with Naruto just sitting there, tracing patterns, and Himaru quietly cleaning up.

Sakura and Sasuke would be fine. He wouldn't let himself believe anything else. They would survive, continue on as ninjas and go on in their lives without him. They had to. He had made it so.

He couldn't regret it either because it made them safer. Same for Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. They would be fine.

If only he could hold on to that thought.

"We'll start our journey there tomorrow. It isn't that far. A few days only. That alright?" Himaru asked while stoking the fire.

"Yes." Naruto gazed into the fire for a moment, watching the red, orange and blue entwining each other, before standing up with a soft sigh. "'Night then, Himaru-san."

Naruto went over to the bedroll and lay down, wrapping himself in a blanket.

Everything would be fine, Naruto tried to assure himself.

If only that could be true.


	9. Chapter 8

Red Chakra

Chapter 8

* * *

The fire temple was gigantic.

That's the first thought Naruto should have had. It's what he had expected. A temple should be something grand, something extraordinary. It should impress the viewers and show its importance just by its size. At least that was the impression Naruto had gotten from his childhood and all the stories he'd heard in class at the academy. It would be a lie though.

The fire temple was tiny.

It didn't even look like a temple; just a building carved out of stone with the kanji for fire on its doors. The grey and boring building could perhaps house a family of four. From what Naruto could see, it was almost like a small shack and it could barely compete with his apartment in Konoha. Of course, Naruto wasn't that close yet so it was just an uneducated guess.

Still, it didn't look like a temple.

He and Himaru were currently standing at the base of a small mountain that housed the temple half-way up. While most of the mountain seemed insurmountable for normal people, a ninja, with his chakra, would be able to scale it quite easily.

Fortunately, Naruto had found there to be stone steps leading the way up. Himaru didn't seem capable of getting up there otherwise. As old as he acted, and with that wheezing, he didn't come off as a guy that could have actually been a ninja. That he was a monk now was not really an excuse. He couldn't be older than the Sannin in Naruto's opinion, and the Sannin were still strong.

Tsunade with her ability to heal and throw strong punches, Jiraiya with his ability to use powerful ninjutsu and sealing and Orochimaru with his snakes and the forbidden arts, such as the summoning of the dead. They all seemed more capable.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

Himaru's voice broke Naruto out of his musings. "Oh. Er…"

"That was a joke," Himura stated.

"Right…" Naruto couldn't be certain. Himaru looked much too serious. "I thought there were a lot of monks. That temple looks tiny. You can't be more than five people in there without getting cramped."

"Oh, there are," Himura murmured. "You didn't think that we all lived in the same place, did you? Besides, don't judge the place purely on its looks. Have no one ever taught you to look beneath the surface? There are two cellars as well as corridors leading off to other chambers. It's not as 'cramped', as you put it, as it looks. Besides, why should you be worried about that? You will only spending a few day or so there."

"Why?" Naruto asked, never having thought to ask for the exact time he would go into the chamber Himaru had talked about.

"Why what?" Himaru responded as he took the first step upwards and Naruto followed. "Why only a day? Or why so long? It would serve you well to learn to be a bit clearer, Naruto-san."

"Why so long? If I get another chakra burst-"

"Oh, don't worry about that. It won't happen until it should." Himaru started wheezing again.

"How can you know that?" Naruto quickly asked.

"Trust me. It will not."

Somehow the expression on Himaru's face, the narrowing of his eyes and the thin line Himaru's mouth had been pressed into, convinced Naruto. The man looked too stubborn to be lying.

The surprisingly short time it took for them both to get to the small temple passed in silence. Naruto couldn't quite think of something to say and Himaru looked to be deep in thoughts. The old man Sarutobi had sometimes looked like that and when he did Naruto never dared to disturb him. It wouldn't have been right.

Outside of the fire temple a young man stood. Naruto thought he had to be just a little younger than Iruka and the young man looked to be a monk. He had a serious, but indifferent face and there was no widening of the eyes or any kind of shifting as Naruto and Himaru approached. In a way, it reminded Naruto of how Shikamaru could look when he was bored and just wanted to get something over with so he could go back to cloud watching or sleeping.

The young man was dressed in white and black in some sort of traditional costume that Naruto didn't recognize. It certainly didn't resemble Himaru's outfit. He had white hair that hung down to his shoulders and his eyes were a striking black. He didn't blink or move or do anything while he waited. He just stood there; waiting patiently, it seemed, for Naruto and Himaru to reach the grounds.

Naruto couldn't understand how he did that.

"Taro-kun," Himaru suddenly greeted. "How have you been? Have you eaten your sprouts lately? You are still so small!"

"Himaru-dono, you are a bit late," a monotone voice came from Taro's mouth.

"I suppose I am," Himaru responded calmly. "Have you made the evening meal yet? I'm fit to eat a garden."

"I'm sure you are," Taro responded. "And the… guest?" Taro seemed to hesitate a second on the last word.

"Ah, well. We'll have to talk about that," said Himaru before he got a startled look on his face. "Pardon. This is Uzumaki Naruto, Taro-kun. Naruto-san, this is Hono Taro, an apprentice of sorts." Himaru gestured all the while and Taro took on a somewhat speculative expression.

"A pleasure, Uzumaki-san," Taro directed at Naruto with a small bow to go with it.

"Ah," Naruto uttered while rubbing his neck. "Call me Naruto, Taro-san. Uzumaki makes it sound like I'm in trouble." He winced, remembering Iruka and how mad he would likely be when he heard of his disappearance.

He probably already was.

"As you wish, Naruto-san. Please do step inside. I'll have tea ready in a moment." With that Taro returned to the inside of the stone house that had to be the temple. His steps were silent, his movements quite stiff and he seemed to be quite negative in response to all he had heard.

"What's wrong with that guy?" Naruto muttered.

"Ah, nothing, nothing. He was born like that. Always so stiff and formal. He never has any fun whatsoever. A shame is what it is. Refuses to even join in on the occasional card game. Calls it blasphemy, he does. Sometimes I think he thinks that he is the elder of us two."

"Really?" Naruto said in surprise. "That reminds me of a few people I know. They lightened up though…"

"Maybe he will as well. Though with the way he acts it will be a long time in coming." Himaru coughed into his elbow and then clapped his hands together with finality. "Let's go inside. There should be food to be had; I'm practically starving."

Himaru entered through the door and Naruto quietly followed.

He was here, at the temple, and soon he would enter that chamber. He would be safe. They would be safe.

* * *

"Pass me the salt, will you, Taro-kun?" Himaru asked with a wave of his hand.

"There is no salt," Taro responded as he carefully dabbed his mouth with a piece of white cloth.

"Pardon?"

"There is no salt, I said."

"There must be," Himaru stated.

"Shin-kun and Kosuke-kun are still out gathering food. They were to purchase some more. As they have yet to arrive, there is no salt."

"I don't believe it," Himaru said forlornly. "No salt?"

"No salt."

Naruto ate the unsalted meat as he watched the interaction between Taro and Himaru. It was somewhat amusing, but at the same time a bit sad. It reminded him of his friends, watching someone playfully talk like that. Playfully used in the loosest meaning of the word. It reminded him of the fact that he wasn't with his friends.

He had to be steadfast, Naruto decided as he chewed on a particularly tough piece of meat. He couldn't let missing his friends come in the way of his goal. So, he was a bit homesick. It didn't matter compared to the danger he could be if something went wrong. As it was, he had avoided using chakra since he had left Konoha.

He didn't know when the next burst would come, but he wouldn't help it along.

"Shin-kun and Konosuke-kun both left?"

"Yes. Shin-kun wished to hunt and Konosuke-kun went with him to make sure that some food would actually be brought back. They promised to drop by Tanakura on their way back."

Naruto popped a tomato into his mouth, chewing quickly and secretly enjoying the taste after the tasteless, overcooked meat. He didn't like vegetables as a rule, but the meat had so little taste that anything would be better. Naruto gobbled three bowls of rice as a side course and thought himself satisfied.

"Ah, good then."

A humming sound agreed.

Himaru finished his meal and for a while all three sat in content silence. Taro chose to rise after a moment to clear off the table. A few minutes later, before the silence could get awkward, Himura spoke:

"Perhaps you would like a bath before you go to sleep, Naruto-kun?"

"Sleep?"

"Yes. In an hour or two, I suppose."

"Eh? It's still early. Why so soon?"

"We'll rise with the sun tomorrow. I'm sure you'll need the sleep."

"With the sun?" Naruto, a little horrified at the thought.

"Yes. There are things to do before you can enter the chamber. Cleansing for one. There is no time for that now and only the spirits may know how long it will take us tomorrow. It is better to start early."

Naruto nodded, though he was a bit dismayed. It really wasn't that late in the day. It was barely past midday in his mind. Though the bath did sound promising.

"A bath then?" Himaru asked.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed.

"Taro will show you your room and the bathing area in a moment."

The bathing area turned out to be a set of underground hot springs in the mountain. They were located a short walk away from the temple. The caves they were in had high roofs and the damp air seemed to drift into every crack.

It quickly got too hot in the room and Naruto was told that he could have thirty minutes safely in there. Any longer and his body would overheat and become too dehydrated.

Naruto couldn't be sure if that counted for him with Kyuubi. He had a feeling he could take much more heat without suffering unduly.

Besides, he liked baths.

* * *

"Wake up."

Naruto groaned, rolling away from the voice.

"It is dawn. Himaru-dono wishes for you to be awake."

For one more moment Naruto considered ignoring Taro, but only for a moment. The truth of the matter hit him before he could reply in the negative. He had to be awake to do what was needed. With a sigh, because he still would have liked some more sleep, never mind how early he went to bed, he sat up and stretched.

"And?" Naruto asked.

Taro raised his eyebrows, indicating Naruto's clothes with his hand.

"What next?" Naruto clarified.

"The cleansing."

Taro led him out of his room and down a floor. They entered a corridor that seemed to end in a waterfall and Taro asked him, impassively, to remove his clothes before going under the waterfall. He got under the waterfall, stood there for two seconds before visibly reacting to the cold.

Naruto jumped of the water. His teeth were clacking together and he felt like he'd do anything for access to some hot springs.

"Get in again, Naruto-san," the monotone voice of Taro said.

"No," Naruto said through his shaking teeth. "It's freezing!" He glared at the waterfall. "I'm not getting into that again!"

"You must."

"Why? Can't I just go into the chamber without it?"

"The cold stream of water from the waterfall purifies. It's a necessary rite before you enter into the chamber."

"I know. Himaru said so before, but I don't see why I need it. It's just cold water!"

"Frankly said, you're impure."

"What?"

"All men are unless they receive purification. Have you ever gone through a purification rite before?"

"I'm a ninja. I don't think we have those." Naruto hugged himself and jump up and down to get warm again.

"Likely not. It's been going out of fashion for the general population in the last century. And ninja have never been particularly fond of them."

"Okay… Why not?" Naruto asked curiously now that he was warming up again.

"They take time that a ninja normally won't have and ninja generally look down upon such rituals and traditions."

"Oh. And why do I have to do this? The water is freezing and I don't really see how freezing to death in it helps."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, Naruto-san," Taro said with the first hint of impatience in his voice. "You won't freeze to death. I've been through this before and I'm alive, aren't I? It's only a measly ten minutes anyway. Aren't you a ninja? You should be more hardy."

"I'm hardy!"

"Are you?" Taro raised his eyebrows and gave Naruto a disbelieving stare. "Then why did you get out of the waterfall with the excuse that it was freezing?"

Naruto couldn't truly reply to that so he decided to repeat his earlier question.

"Why do I have to do that then? Why can't I just go into that chamber and get through the chakra bursts without standing beneath a waterfall, freezing?"

"Firstly, to enter the chamber your body, soul and mind need to be quite pure for the chamber's chakra to accept you. Of course, the waterfall won't make you entirely pure as you will still have the Kyuubi within you and it is certainly not pure nor will a waterfall rite make it so, but it will help you get in."

"Wait, the chamber's chakra? I thought only living beings had chakra…"

"Of course not. Nature has a much stronger type of chakra which humans generally can't use. It's part of the spirits of nature. The spirits can rarely talk or think, but they can sense us. The chamber's spirit, or rather the spirit of the mountain, will sense you when you enter. You just have to ensure that the spirit will accept you. The consequences if it does not aren't pleasant or so I've heard. "

"Right," Naruto agreed. "And standing in the waterfall will help with that?"

"Yes. Just accept that and get underneath it. We don't know when the next chakra burst will come and it really would be great if you could be ready to enter the chamber by then." Taro took a few steps back and sighed. "Just do it."

"Yosh," Naruto said before bravely, in his opinion, stepping under the falling water again. His teeth shattering he wondered why time seemed to pass so slowly.

Once done, Taro handed him a simple yukata and walked out, clearly expecting to be followed. Naruto dressed and followed him out with his feet still bare.

"You are ready then,"

Himaru explained what would happen when he entered the corridor and then the chamber. Part of Naruto didn't want to believe it, but another part knew the truth.

He would for all purposes be frozen in time as the world slowly turned and changed. His friends would get older, enemies would fall and rise, leaders would change and it would happen without him.

He would be gone.

But they would never have to be harmed because of him.

* * *

Naruto walked alone down the corridor.

It was dark and every step echoed against the walls. The walk to the chamber must have taken half an hour and Naruto knew that to be somewhat reasonable. The chamber did lay in a neighbouring mountain after all.

All he would have to do was enter and then it would be up to time itself.

At the end of the corridor a stone gate stood before him with the sign of Jin and Jang upon it. Naruto stepped up to the gate and laid his hands upon the sign and channelled chakra into it.

The gate groaned in protest and slowly opened up to reveal the chamber, lit only by glowing, yellow lines that ran through the stone walls. The room was in the form of a sphere and barely a step inside the gate the floor started diving downwards in the same way the walls climb upwards to form a spherical roof to the chamber.

Naruto walked downwards into the middle of the chamber and simply stood there for a moment before he followed Himaru's word and released his chakra completely. A feeling of extreme power filled him, but for once Naruto felt utterly safe in letting it loose.

No one could be harmed by him or his chakra here.

In the darkness of the chamber Naruto's eyes closed. For a moment all he could see was nothing but the world turned a fiery red. In the back of his mind there was a sound that resembled laughter, though there was no humour in it.

Naruto could feel his conscious slipping from him and he knew it would be a long time before he woke up again. The world wouldn't stop because of that. His friends would grow older while he would remain the same, in body and mind if not soul and chakra. They could die, but he knew it wouldn't be because of him and the chakra he possessed. He wouldn't harm his friends. A warm happiness filled his being, spreading from his chest to the very tips of his fingers. The warmth cocooned him in the feeling of being secure.

In the red light that had become his world, Naruto fell asleep.


	10. Epilogue

Red Chakra

Epilogue

* * *

A groaning sound came from the mountain that raged above the lands below.

A group of youths herding some goats away from the mountain froze for a moment before they turned around and gazed upwards. The mountain, an old volcano, should have stayed asleep as it had always been. Nothing should have changed. The groaning sound told a different tale.

The goats, who had stopped for a moment at the ominous sound, wildly started running south and away from the mountain. They were escaping. Their shepherds had no choice but to follow along, but in truth they did not wish to remain.

No one wanted to be near an awakening volcano.

Another sound, some rumbling and they were all running.

Farther away, on a mountain top opposite of the old volcano a man was sitting. His somewhat wheezing breaths were close to soundless compared to the noise the volcano was making.

"Now?" a young voice asked.

A young man stood beside the old one. His hand reached up to clear his black hair away from his eyes.

"Soon."

"Same thing you said six months ago. That's no longer good enough." Black eyes narrowed as they gazed at the volcano. "Himaru-san, give me a straight answer."

"Today, tomorrow, next week. All soon. Not a month though. Sooner than that." The man rose and stretched slightly. His back creaked and the young man couldn't quite hide a wince. A man's body should never sound like that. "See?" A finger pointed at the volcano. "It's awakening. He'll come soon."

"For your sake I hope you're right."

"Which wasn't a threat, eh, Ke-kun?" The young man glared and uttered a grunt. "But you spoke truth. For our sakes I hope he comes soon. He might just be what we need."

"If he's alive."

"Of course he's alive! He wouldn't just go and die on us, would he?" Himaru smiled.

"He's received no food, no water, no nothing during the last years. My doubts aren't unfounded."

"Then, may I ask you, did he need that nourishment? I believe not."

The volcano started rumbling and small ash cloud surfaced slowly.

"Perhaps. I'll admit that I will only believe him to be alive when I see him. These last few years has taught me something."

"Never give up on hope, I hope. One who waits for something good never wastes his time waiting."

"Unless the time spent waiting was useless and resulted in the destruction of what you wanted to protect."

"Don't be so negative, Ke-kun."

"I'll admit, if he is alive things will become much easier. But there's no guarantee. And it might just be too little, too late."

Another, larger, ash cloud spread across the horizon.

"Should we move?" the young man asked.

"In a minute or two. Let's enjoy the view some more."

"Fine."

The old man Himaru sat down again, his wheezing hidden behind the sounds of nature rebelling.

Uzumaki Naruto would soon return.

Soon.

* * *

Inside the mountain, hidden in a chamber, a man opened his eyes and breathed.


End file.
